Haider was one such movie that I couldnot miss . The most important reason being the IMDB rating of 8.9 and the second being the reference to AFSPA that I read in one of the reviews ( Hamlet part did not prompt me much though! ) . Once I secured the tickets in Satyam cinemas , it was time to browse through the details of the AFSP act ( already there were too many acts that had to be mugged up , but the movie had aroused special interest in this particular act. I wish that bollywood had initiated making a movie on every act passed by parliament so as to fecilitate easy memorisation techniques for UPSC aspirants!!)
So what is AFSPA?
In May 1958, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India, in response to the continued unrest in the northeastern territories of the union, including self determination activities by Naga tribes that spilled over into the state of Manipur, promulgated the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance. The ordinance entitled the Governor of Assam and the Chief Commissioner of Manipur to declare the whole or any part of Assam or Manipur, respectively, as a “disturbed area”. The AFSP Act replaced the ordinance later that year. The Act was passed by both Houses of Parliament on 18 August 1958 and received presidential assent on 11 September 1958.
Today the Act is applicable to the northeastern territory of India, comprising of seven states, namely, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. In 1990, a similar Act was enacted to cover the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
AFSPA is often termed as the 'Draconian law'. The act grants extraordinary powers to the military, including the powers to detain persons, use lethal force, and enter and search premises without warrant. These powers are formulated very broadly and framed in vague language. Despite the inherent risk of possible abuse in the context of such broad rights, the act doesnt contain any provision to safeguard the rights of the citizens.
The overall effect of the AFSPA has been the defacto militarization of northeastern region. This has resulted in unaccounted deaths , dissapearances , arbitrary killings , and suppression of human rights as par the constitution and the international human rights law.
Coming back to the movie 'Haider',though this movie wasnt completely based on AFSPA and most reviews were more concerned about the HAMLET part of the story, but I chose to focus more on the act! But Haider had a mixed blend of almost everything .Of late , I have come to believe hat there are broadly two types of Indians ~ One the UPSC aspirants and other the rest. The thinking methodology and the analytic process of both the species being very different, this was one such movie that has done justice to both of them . There was a philosophical side to the whole story and that was precisely and very concisely shot in the song ~ ' Aao na ' written by none other but Gulzar ! At first listening the song seemed creepy and funny at the same time . But the intricacies of the simple wordings kept one thinking .The seemingly mad Sahid kapoor scene that detailed the act with insane touch was one epic scene. The equally beautiful and complicated character of Tabu ,paralleling Gertrude of ' Hamlet'had its own significance.
The fantastic idea of integrating the Hamlet and AFSPA is what made the movie even more intriguing. By highligting the plight of the locals being effected by the AFSPA in Kashmir , the movie raised issues of legality of the act .
Ever since AFSPA was imposed , there had been cases of frequent violations of basic human rights in the hands of the army . For an instance , the military, while driving along the streets of Kohimain 1995, mistook the sound of a burst tyre from their own convoy for a bomb explosion and opened fire indiscriminately. Individuals who were considered to be terrorists’ accomplices were dragged from their houses and arbitrarily killed. As a result, seven civilians lost their lives. In another instance , on 11th July a 32 year old was arrested from her house in Manipur under the act and later her badly mutilated and bullet ridden body was found nearby. After the investigations the Indian army vice chief of staff stated that the incidence was indeed an unfortunate one .
These being a drop in the ocean of the atrocities inflicted under the umbrella of AFSPA . The fight led by Irom Sharmila has its relevance in the history . But the irony is the person who has been fighting for lives, for 14 years now ,through a fast is being imprisoned under different provisions of crpc and section 309 of IPC for attempt to suicide. Sometimes the laid down text defy the common sense. I wonder if the law differentiates between the 'Jauhar' and a protest !
So, finally , the movie was one worth watching and I enjoyed it to the fullest in an uncertain afternoon!! But ' Maktub ' as it goes! I was destined to watch the movie.
