MANIPUR The AFSPA ( Armed Forces Special Powers Act ) was introduced by the British rulers to tackle the activists of the QUIT INDIA movement. Are we going to use this weapon on our own countrymen in Free India today ? Are we going to give unbridled liberty to our battalions to shoot, loot, torture and rape our own countrymen and women ? Are we continuing to ignore the rage, despair and humiliation of the Manipuris today, because Manipur is too small a state , too far away from the centre ? Why ? Is it not part of our own country ?   The Army has been an occupier in our own country , and practically owns Manipur.As Mr.S.L.Rao (Former D.G. of  National Council of Applied Economic Research) rightly points out, the AFSPA with its absence of judicial remedies, has resulted in rampant misbehaviour, loot and rape, rising through the last two decades in Manipur.   Manorama’s torture and death has acted as a spark that fuelled the conflagration that is Manipur today. Everything is shut down because of a bundh or boycott every other day. Hundreds of people are out on the streets with torches and banners that read ‘ Indian Army GO BACK’. According to Geeta Pandey of BBC Radio, more and more additional forces are being  brought to tackle the situation. Is this the way to rule one’s own country?   The protest, this time, is really broad-based. Now students, artists, musicians, doctors and teachers have joined the protest. Normally peaceloving , and non-violent by religion, Manipuris have been roused to such an extent that they will settle for nothing less than the repeal of the Armed Forces Act.   It may be remembered that the UNO in its Human Rights Sub committee 1991 and 1997 had severely condemned  the use of AFSPA by India. It is totally unethical and  absolutely incongruous with the much-hyped Democracy that India claims to practice.                       We Demand---   1.     Immediate withdrawal of AFSPA from Manipur and the rest of our country. 2.     Soldiers,  as citizens of India, be booked for rape and murder, as per the present judicial system.   We await your immediate intervention and early action.