Exactly five years before the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced India's tryst with destiny on 15 August 1947 heralding the National freedom and at the same time setting off the global de-colonisation chain reaction process, Lord Linlithgow, the then Viceroy and Governor General of British India promulgated the Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance.

That this last ditch measure was resorted to on 15 August 1942 to save the foundations of the British colonial empire, could perhaps pass off as a historical coincidence. However, the fact remains that, in 1942, the British had never felt so threatened about their position and it took them 85 long years, from 1857 to 1942, to resort to such a draconian measure.

It took independent and democratic India only 11 years to enact the Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). The 1958 Act gave more teeth to the armed forces. In the 1942 Ordinance, only King's Commissioned Officers of the rank of Captain and above were empowered to resort to open fire even to the extent of causing death. The same powers came to be given to Havildars and above, and the definition of the armed forces came to include the Central paramilitary forces besides the Army , Navy and Air Force.

Central to the operation of the army or the paramilitary organisations like the Assam Rifles, the CRPF or the BSF under the AFSPA lies the problem of insurgency as distinct from terrorism. That is why there is an ongoing ceasefire between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) in Nagaland and offers of the same being made to other groups operating in the North East region. But parleys between the leaders and officials at Bangkok, Davos or the Hague apart, counter-insurgency operations or Law Intensity Conflict essentially remains a 'Havildar's war'.

Troops who have been drilled for generations to recognise two basic things, Dosh or Dushman, Friend or Foe, are made to operate amongst citizens who are also taking part in the democratic process of the country, the elections to the 13th Lower House of the Parliament being the latest.

To the Havildar and his men, the problem of insurgency has nothing to so with the ongoing nation-building process, India being an ancient land but a young nation. Nor does he have time to ponder over where the planning process failed in the crucial IInd to IVth Five Year Plan period when economic infrastructure were being laid, or why oil pumped in Digboi in Assam has to be piped all the way to Barauni in Bihar for refinement. He also has little time to ponder over Nehru's lament on the imminent fall of Assam to the advancing Chinese troops in 1962 or to Prime Minister Deve Gowda's Special Economic Package for the North East.

He is merely trying to implement to the letter, the announcement made over All India Radio, Imphal by Major General K. L. Kochar, GOC of M-Sector in 1980 after the entire State was declared disturbed and the army moved in the Manipur valley. His message ended, '... the army is here with a mission to accomplish'.

Eighteen years after, it is not very clear as to whether the army's mission as announced has been accomplished or not, but officers who were here as subalterns in 1980 have returned as Colonels and Commanding Officers in 1999 and have found the situation more complex and perhaps perplexing at the same time. But what is certain is that the psychology of the Havildar and his troops and the civilian population in whose aid they have been first deployed, have over time developed in different and at times opposite directions. Various terms could be used to describe the situation. From the more academic variety of deepening and widening alienation process, straying away from the mainstream, misguided elements, anti-nationals on one side to oppressors and occupation army on the other.

Personally I have had two visits from the Army. The first was in 1984 before Supreme Court's endorsement of army's Do's and Don'ts. An Army Major belonging to the 4/3rd Gurkha Regiment came to inspect what book I was reading at half past midnight.

The second Major came in 1998. I had by then been served with the Warrant of Appointment as a Member of the Manipur Human Rights Commission by the Governor of Manipur under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. The Major, by the powers conferred upon him by the AFSPA, chose not to recognise the office of the Governor of Manipur, as he announced that the Warrant of Appointment was meaningless to him. The matter is now before the National Human Rights Commission. So I shall comment no more.

However I recall having written an article for the Indian Express on 15 August 1983. I had then said that 'the recalcitrant citizen's loyalty to the Constitution cannot be at the cost of the very same constitution'.