After decades, the Centre declared on Thursday that it would reduce the disturbed areas in Nagaland, Assam, and Manipur under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Meanwhile, the central government extended the controversial rule in three Arunachal Pradesh districts – Tirap, Changland, and Longding – as well as regions under the Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations bordering Assam, in a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday.
The army, state, and central police and security forces all have extraordinary military powers to undertake operations and arrest people without a warrant under the law. It also protects them from being arrested and prosecuted, even if they kill someone. After an area is labelled “disturbed,” the law allows the Centre or the state governor to provide the armed forces extraordinary capabilities.
AFSPA was applied in the North-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab, during the insurgency years. Punjab was the first state to repeal the law, followed by Tripura and Meghalaya
