NEW DELHI, Nov 2 ? The Centre has agreed to constitute an experts committee to review the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in a fresh measure to defuse the crisis in Manipur.
The decision to constitute the experts committee comprising representatives from various fields and organisations including the agitators was taken at an hour-long meeting between the Apunba Lup and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, here this evening.
The Union Home Minister picked the thread from where the Prime Minister left off yesterday by agreeing to replace the AFSPA with a more humane Act. The meeting today was attended by four representatives of the Lup led by A Lokendra while the Home Ministry was present in full strength including the two Minister of States, Sriprakash Jaiswal and S Reghupathy, besides top officials.
According to the agreement hammered out today, the experts committee after re-examining the Act would make recommendations to the Centre, which would be then examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Union Cabinet before taking a final view.
The experts committee that would also include MPs, legal experts and representatives of the Centre would go into the various aspects of the Act itself and hold all-round consultation including the security forces before making its recommendations.
The suggestion for the expert committee came from Apunba Lup, which wanted the Centre to constitute a small group to discuss the Act in detail. The team of experts would look into all important issues relating to legal and moral aspects of the Act and work towards replacing of the Act with a more humane legislation, said the leader of the delegation, A Lokendra. Asserting that they were satisfied with the talks with the Union Home Minister, the Apunba Lup leaders described the meeting as a positive move.
As for their next step, Lokendra said that they are going back to Manipur and brief their people about the intention of the Centre and then they would decide on the next step. ?We had come with the mandate to bare our heart to the Government of India and we will go back and discuss about the positive stand of the Government,? he said.
The delegation that included M Joychandra, C Balu and CH Surjeet said that though they were asking for repeal of the Act. The Union Home Minister explained to them the various ramifications, it added. Later briefing newsmen, the Union Home Minister said that it was guaranteed to the delegation that the assurance given by the Prime Minister would be fulfilled and the necessary steps taken.
Without going into the details, Patil said that something was needed to be done to see that the aspirations of the people were fulfilled. If there are any provisions in the Act that are not acceptable to them then they needed to be looked into. Declining to specify a time frame, Patil said that the Centre was also eager to expedite the process to restore peace in the State.
He asserted that the developments were positive. The Union Home Ministry?s interest to break the deadlock has increased after reports from Manipur Governor, SS Sidhu suggested that the agitators were prepared to call off the agitation following the Centre?s assurances to review the Act.