The Centre is considering partial removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, a senior Home Ministry official said.
The Ministry has asked the two BJP-ruled States for their views and said that it was open to review the stringent law in other States like Manipur.
“We are waiting for the State governments’ comments and will take the final decision once they reply. In Arunachal Pradesh, we are looking at complete withdrawal, except two districts in the east bordering Myanmar and Nagaland,” Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home told The Hindu .
AFSPA gives powers to the Army and central forces deployed in “disturbed areas” to kill anyone acting in contravention of law, arrest and search any premises without a warrant and provide cover to forces from prosecution and legal suits without the Centre’s sanction.
It is effective in the whole of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (excluding seven Assembly constituencies of Imphal). In Arunachal Pradesh it is in force in 16 police stations and in Tirap, Longding and Changlang districts bordering Assam. Tripura withdrew AFSPA in 2015. It is not in force in Meghalaya (except a 20-kilometre area along the Assam border) and Mizoram.
“The notification extending AFSPA in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is issued for six months after a review twice a year. We have reduced this duration to three months and see if it could be withdrawn completely from certain areas. For the time being, the proposal is only for the two States but we are also looking for a similar solution in Manipur,” said the official.
Fresh notification
The Home Ministry issued fresh notification to continue AFSPA in Arunachal Pradesh on May 4 for three months; it would expire on August 8.
In its notification, the Ministry said that the three border districts of Arunachal Pradesh were being used by militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to escape to Myanmar and 25 incidents of violence were reported from September 2016-February 2017.
