Imphal, Oct. 18: Two prominent legal experts of Manipur today questioned the fairness of a move to retain provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which is likely to replace the contentious legislation.

Reacting to media reports on the Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Committee recommending the retention of some provisions of the armed forces act in a new avatar, retired judge C. Upendra Singh and N. Sanajoba, who heads Gauhati University?s department of law, said it did not make sense to repeal an act but retain the very provisions that gave it a draconian character.

Delhi had constituted the Justice Reddy committee in the wake of a violent agitation in Manipur against the armed forces act.

The trigger for the agitation was the alleged rape and death of a woman named Thangjam Manorama in Assam Rifles? custody in July last year. The committee submitted its report to the Union home ministry recently.

Speaking at a daylong workshop on international humanitarian law, Upendra Singh said the people had suffered enough because of the armed forces act. If the provisions of the dreaded act were to be retained even after its repeal, it would be terribly unfair to Manipur, he said.

The former judge called for a mass movement against any move to retain the controversial provisions. ?The framers of the law (the armed forces act) might have had good intentions. But good intentions alone are not enough. Those who enforce a law should strictly abide by the rulebook. But security forces deployed in Manipur to tackle militancy do not always follow the dos and don?ts prescribed by the Supreme Court.?

Echoing him, Sanajaoba said even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had admitted that the armed forces act needed to be tempered to make it people-friendly. He hoped MPs from Manipur would lobby against any move to retain the provisions of the law.

The legal expert also stressed the need for state and central forces to abide by international humanitarian laws at all times.