Diluting AFSPA Will Be A Blunder

It is really alarming to see that the government of India is planning to modify (read dilute) the AFSPA or Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Everybody accepts that there have been some instances of misuse of this power by certain bad elements in the Army. And those scoundrels should be awarded the harshest possible punishments.

But under no circumstances it is acceptable that the government will modify the Act, thereby diluting the effectiveness of the same which in turn will have a highly adverse impact on the performance of the security personnel fighting day in and day out to keep our country safe from the fangs of bloody terrorists.

Almost every day a number of government officials of various ranks and posts are misusing various powers that they enjoy by the virtue of their ranks and posts. If the government decides to stop the misuse of governmental powers by diluting the powers themselves, then it will eventually dilute the executive capacity of the government itself.

The best way to ensure that no military officer misuses AFSPA is to award strong punishments to the offenders, which will discourage any officer from going for such an act in the future. Fake encounters is an alarming issue. But that does not mean that the government will dilute the AFSPA, thereby weakening our security personnel and giving the terrorists more power to harm us.