The fight for human rights

When any campaign finds it hard to bring about a conclusive answer to vexed issues, the people behind such a movement are overwhelmed by lethargy, especially if they are driven other than by moral urge. To many human rights activists in the Naga community, as it appears, yesterday’s campaign is a shibboleth today.

However, the sustained campaign by a handful of “moral thinking agents” in their own ways against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), though feeble, is “enough of a moral and political victory”. Kind words from Nandita Haksar and Sebastian M Hongray are to be treasured at a time such as this–“We do not feel we have failed. We feel Indian democracy has failed. The failure is of the judges, the courts, and the Indian legal justice system and of Indian democracy. If we had not fought we would have failed not just in our duty as human rights activists but also human beings…”

Read  More