Amid demands that the Centre should revoke the contentious Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the northeast in the wake of civilian killings in Nagaland, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday that there should not be a perception that under the act, security forces can act with impunity.
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“In a state where the government claims to be engaged in a very successful peace talks, look at the kind of condition they have reduced the state to today,” news agency ANI quoted Tharoor as saying. The Congress MP was referring to the much-publicised peace agreement between the Union government and the Naga insurgent groups.
“In our manifesto, we said that AFSPA has to be reviewed,” he further said, talking about the Congress’ manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The party had promised that if elected to power, it would amend the act.
Tharoor then slammed Union home minister Amit Shah for his speech in Parliament on the civilian killings in the northeastern state. “We can’t afford to let it be perceived by people as something that allows security forces to act with impunity. Home minister and defence minister should’ve addressed the House. Instead, you gave a very short statement and walked away without taking questions,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Tharoor then slammed Union home minister Amit Shah for his speech in Parliament on the civilian killings in the northeastern state. “We can’t afford to let it be perceived by people as something that allows security forces to act with impunity. Home minister and defence minister should’ve addressed the House. Instead, you gave a very short statement and walked away without taking questions,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, Shah spoke in Parliament on the killings, laying out the sequence of events which transpired last Saturday. The central government and Army have both said that it was a case of ‘mistaken identity’ as the security forces had laid an ambush on receiving inputs about movement of the insurgents, but ended up killing 13 civilians instead. One army jawan was also killed as angry villagers attacked the army party.
The civilian killings have once again triggered demands seeking withdrawal of AFSPA, which grants special powers to the armed forces to maintain public order in ‘disturbed areas.’ Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma, Opposition MPs in Parliament, and civil society members have all demanded that the act be immediately withdrawn from the northeastern states.