Honor For Film on Army Act

Director baffled by Centre’s ‘double standards’ on draconian law

By Khelen Thokchom

A still from AFSPA 1958

Imphal, Jan 30 : When AFSPA 1958 was adjudged the best film in the non-feature category at the 56th National Awards in New Delhi last weekend, director Haobam Paban Kumar was more surprised than overjoyed.

Not because his film lacks in quality or is in any way undeserving of such honor, having already bagged six international awards. What has baffled Paban Kumar was the fact that the Centre, which has refused to scrap the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, has decided to honor a film that depicts the legislation as draconian.

The film selected from among 99 non-feature film entries. “I never thought that the film would bag a national award. The film depicts the army act as draconian and it is quite surprising that the information and broadcasting ministry selected a film dealing with the subject for the honor. The Centre has refused to scrap the act, despite violent agitation in the state,” Kumar said.

The film is based on the mass uprising against the army act and the brutal crackdown by armed forces on the protesters. The uproar over the legislation was triggered by the custodial killing of Thangjam Manorama Devi by troops of the Assam Rifles in July 2004.

The film is a collection of visuals shot by Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, an electronic media journalist of Manipur. Sunzu and Kumar, an alumni of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Calcutta, teamed up to do wonders.

The award has taken everyone in Manipur, from filmmakers to rights activists, by utter surprise.

“The decision of the information ministry shows contradictory policies of the Centre. The selection is based on the recognition of the fact that the people of Manipur continue to suffer under the act. On the other hand, the home ministry, the defense ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office still favor continued enforcement of the legislation, which is an irony,” Sunzu said.

Reacting to the announcement, Babloo Loitongbam, the executive director of Human Rights Alert, Manipur, renewed the group’s demand that the Centre should repeal the act. “The world is behind Irom Sharmila and the Centre is ignoring her struggle,” he added.

Sharmila, who has been fasting since November 2000, demanding repeal of the act, was not available for comment.

Her elder brother, Irom Singhajit said if the Centre was honest and sincere, the act should be repealed. “I believe they selected the film for the award because the sufferings of the people shown by the film were real. The Centre should stop playing games with people living in the border areas and scrap the act,” Singhajit, who is the managing trustee of Just Peace Foundation, a group working for human rights, said.