AFSPA extended in 4 Assam districts amid concerns over Bangladesh disturbances
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been extended for six more months in the districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, and Sivasagar in Assam.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been extended for six more months in the districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, and Sivasagar in Assam.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), a law granting special powers to the armed forces, has been extended for another six months in select areas of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
Following a proposal from the Assam government, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has chosen to maintain the current "status quo" regarding the classification of these areas as "disturbed" for another six months.
The MHA issued a notification to declare the areas as disturbed areas. The three districts where the AFSPA has been extended for the next three months are Tirap, Changlang, and Longding.
The families of the three boys killed in the fake encounter have, on Tuesday, dubbed the granting of bail to the captain as a “grave injustice”. They vowed not to remain silent but to move a higher court.
Shah announced the much expected decision in three separate tweets when most of the political parties and NGOs have been demanding to repeal the AFSPA and the demand intensified after the security forces killed 14 people and injured 30 others in Mon district of Nagaland on December 4 and 5 last year.
Interestingly, the law was first introduced by the British to suppress the Quit India movement in 1942.
The Centre on Sunday constituted a high-level committee, headed by a secretary-rank officer, to examine the possibility of lifting the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Nagaland.
The AFSPA (1958) that happens to be one of the most draconian instruments of security and control, first applied to Assam and Manipur and later amended in 1972 to extend to Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, vests unaccountable and extraordinary powers with the armed forces. The public consciousness against the AFPSA was raised when a group of elderly and middle-aged women from different organisations of the Meira Paibi the largest civilian movement fighting state atrocities and human rights violations in Manipur, besides drug abuse and crimes against women - led a protest march against the rape of Thangjam Manorama by soldiers of Assam Rifles. The fast unto death begun by Irom Chanu Sharmila on 2 November 2000, in protest against the Act, that continued well into August 2016, stirred public conscience
Nagaland has been under the coverage of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) for almost six decades.
