The National Human Rights Commission report prepared for the second universal periodic review, a mechanism created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 for examining the universal coverage of human rights across the world, will come up for discussion in a meeting early next year.
The United Progressive Alliance II government will be put to shame in international eyes with the NHRC sending a damaging report to the UN on the government's prestigious flagship programmes and its double standards with regards to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
The mechanism invites three reports from every country -- one from the government, another from the country's human rights commission and third from the civil society -- to judge its performance on human rights.
The NHRC report quotes the government's 2011 report to the UN that "India does not face either international or non-international armed conflict situations," to assert that it sees no reason for continuing with the AFSPA." It says, "...considering the evidence we have on record to show how the military is using it, the act should go."
Pointing out that AFSPA remains in force in Jammu and Kashmir and in the northeastern states, conferring an impunity that often leads to the violation of human rights, the report advocates its immediate revocation, "considering the enormous opposition the act has generated in the states where it is in force."
It also criticises the Prevention of Torture Bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, saying it would be a travesty if the original bill is adopted despite the Rajya Sabha's select committee making sweeping changes to strengthen it. It also lambasts the attitude of bureaucrats, pointing out that "the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes remain particularly
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