The President of Solidarity Youth Movement condemned the Indian State for using AFSPA and UAPA to put down the struggles of people and arrest innocent youth. He pointed out that thousands of people have been incarcerated under these laws. The security forces are not accountable under these laws, leading to thousands of missing youth. There is a massive public outcry against these laws in Jammu & Kashmir, north-eastern states and other parts of India, but the government has ignored the demands of the people. He exhorted the youth to continue the struggle for repealing these laws without let up.
Other speakers such as the Secretary of Aligarh Muslim University students union, Adv Mohammed Yusuff, National Executive Member of Popular Front of India, Shri K P Sasi, well-known film maker, and representatives of Welfare Party, APCR, and others strongly condemned the blatant violation of human and civil rights.
Shri Raghavan Srinivasan, President, Lok Raj Sangathan, congratulated the organisers for organizing the march to Parliament on such an important issue. He pointed out that such black laws go against the fundamental principles of human rights, they make people into living corpses by taking away from them the right to live a dignified life. The precursor to these laws are the draconian laws framed by the British colonisers to suppress people’s struggles after the ghadar of 1857. The names have changed, but in essence they are the same. These were earlier called TADA, POTA etc. These are a part of the policy of the ruling class to stabilize their rule by keeping the people divided on religious and other lines. These laws particularly target minority people and justify that people are terrorists, extremists and so on. The present Constitution announces in the preamble that India is a sovereign, democratic, secular, socialist republic but none of it is true as existence of such laws prove. The Indian Constitution justifies such laws and deprives people of their fundamental rights and right to conscience. He reiterated that Lok Raj Sangathan has been continuously opposing these laws. It has been working with a number of organisations to build the unity of people on such issues, such as the December 6th demonstration in this same venue, where several organisations present today also participated. He promised that LRS will stand shoulder to shoulder with all organisations and people who stand against injustice.
