Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

Joining the debate on the AFSPA, after its full and partial removal from two states, former Army Chief VP Malik stressed that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is essential for the Army, which is put in a combat position in terrorism-hit areas.He was delivering a keynote address at a symposium on Daisaku Ikeda’s 2018 peace proposal, ‘Towards an era of human rights: Building a people’s movement’, organised by the Bharat Soka Gakkai here on Monday evening.Referring to the recent removal of the Act from Meghalaya and almost half of the Arunachal Pradesh, Gen VP Malik (Retd) said: “The Act is grossly misunderstood as it does not give the Army any liberty to indulge in violence. Believe me, the Army has its own mechanism to handle aberrations of violence, but without AFSPA, the Army will have no legal sanctity and constitutional protection to function in a strife-torn area.”Defending the soldiers, Malik called for the need to understand the human rights and self-defence rights of a soldier. “Recently in Kashmir, a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Army was booked for firing at a mob of stone-pelters. No one bothered to talk about the human rights of the soldier and his right to defend himself from a mob,” he said.Malik said people must understand that peace comes in pieces and not as one whole package.As care for the elderly is an important part of the 2018 peace process, Malik said it was important for the elderly to have financial independence and to keep themselves busy.Earlier, Navraj Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary with the Haryana government, spoke on the importance of women empowerment as a necessary tool for world peace.Inspirational speaker and former IAS officer Vivek Atray talked about the need to have peace within ourselves to attain world peace. He stressed that the education and empowerment of the girl child was a must for a healthy society, but upbringing of the boys as sensitive human beings where they respect women is also a necessity.Vishesh Gupta, Chairperson, Bharat Soka Gakkai, said the peace movement was the way forward to make the world free of violence.