IT News
Imphal, March 31:
The central government of India, under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to reduce the disturb area status under the Armed Forces Special Power Act from some part of Manipur, Assam and Nagaland.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a tweet stated, In a significant step, GoI under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to reduce disturbed area under Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades.
The disturbed area status for the state of Manipur has been lifted from the 7 assembly segments of greater Imphal area in August 2004. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh soon after he was re-elected in the recently concluded election has stated that he will urge the central leadership to lifted the AFSPA from some more part of the where the law and order problem have been improved. Source said that in Manipur, 15 police station areas of six districts will be excluded from the disturbed area notification from tomorrow.
Chief Minister of Manipur N. Biren Singh lauded the decision of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to the decision.
N. Biren Singh tweets, “With Hon’ble;e PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s decision to reduce disturbed area in Manipur I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Hon’ble Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji for his unwavering support to make this feat possible today. He further tweets that the historic decision is the result of the robust development and improved security situation under various initiatives taken up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CM added that, this decision will lead to a new era of peace , prosperity and development in Manipur Again.
AFSPA was extended in the state of Manipur on January 12, 2022 for period of one more year excluding the 7 seven Assembly segment of Greater Imphal area while the Assam government on March 1 had extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in the entire state for six more months with effect from February 28.
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 is an act of the Parliament of India that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.”
According to the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976 once declared ‘disturbed’, the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 6 months. One such act passed on 11 September 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam.
In the following decades it spread, one by one, to the other Seven Sister States in India’s northeast. At present, it is in force in the States of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area), Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of the eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering the State of Assam.
The acts have received criticism from several sections for alleged concerns about human rights violations in the regions of its enforcement alleged to have happened. National Politicians like P. Chidambaram and Saifuddin Soz of Congress have advocated revocation of AFSPA, while some like Amarinder Singh are against its revocation. The then prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had stated AFSPA as an inhuman act.
In November 2016, Government of India has extended AFSPA in three districts of Arunachal Pradesh- Tirap, Changlang and Longding. The period has further been extended by another 6 months in above three districts of Arunachal Pradesh in April, 2018.
These have been declared as “disturbed area” under Section 3 of the AFSPA. In these districts, Naga underground factions including National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) and NSCN (Khaplang) are involved in extortion, recruitment of locals, and rivalry.
