Centre reduces number of places under AFSPA in the northeast

The Centre has further reduced the number of areas in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur that were declared disturbed areas under the Afpsa due to an improvement in the security situation, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Twitter on Saturday.

The central government has further reduced the number of areas in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur that were declared disturbed areas under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) due to an improvement in the security situation, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Twitter on Saturday.

Lifting Afspa in many areas is welcome, but the provisions of Afspa as an emergency law that empowers the Army — the nation’s instrument of last resort — must continue to remain on the statute books given the increasingly violent and uncertain times that the subcontinent is likely to face in the coming years. (AP)

“A historic day for the Northeast! PM Narendra Modi led GoI (government of India) has once again decided to decrease the disturbed areas in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur under the AFSPA. This decision has been taken on account of significant improvement in the security situation in North-East India,” he said.

“Congratulations to our sisters and brothers of the Northeast on this momentous occasion,” the home minister said.

According to separate notifications issued by the home ministry on Friday evening, AFSPA was removed from one more district, four police station jurisdictions in Manipur and three police station areas in Nagaland. Earlier, on April 1, 2022, AFSPA was removed from a large number of districts in the north east.

In Assam, the disturbed area notification has been in force since 1990. As a result of the improvement in the security situation, the disturbed area tag was removed from the entire state of Assam, except nine districts and one subdivision of one district from April 1 last year, according to officials who didn’t want to be named. It has now been limited to only eight districts in Assam.

In Manipur, except the Imphal municipality area, the entire state was declared a disturbed area in 2004 and it has been in force since then. On April 1, 2022, 15 police station areas of six districts were freed from the ambit of AFSPA.

Now, with the removal of AFSPA from areas falling under four other police station areas with effect from April 1, 2023, the disturbed area tag has been removed from a total of 19 police station areas in seven districts of the state.

In Nagaland, the law has been in force since 1995. It was removed from 15 police station areas of seven districts from April 1, 2022. Following a recommendation of a government-appointed committee, AFSPA was removed from three other police station areas with effect from April 1, 2023. With this, the disturbed area tag has been removed from a total of 18 police station areas in eight districts of Nagaland.

The latest decision doesn’t mean that AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the region. A British era law, enacted in 1942 in response to the Quit India movement, was retained in 1958 and has since been used in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. It empowers the security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant, besides giving immunity from arrest and prosecution if a person is killed in an operation. It was first enforced in the northeast as a measure to tackle Naga insurgency in the then undivided state of Assam.

For years, there have been protests and demands from civil society groups and several political parties for the complete withdrawal of the law from both the north east as well as J&K. They have said that the law has allowed the security forces to operate with impunity.

Around 7,000 militants have surrendered in the past few years in the northeast, according to home ministry data. In comparison to 2014, there has been a reduction of 74% in militancy incidents in 2021. Similarly, deaths of security personnel and civilians have also declined by 60% and 84%, respectively, during this period.