The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, has been extended for another year in Manipur with effect from Wednesday, after the State was declared disturbed.
The Cabinet recently recommended to the Union government that the AFSPA be extended.
The AFSPA was first imposed in Manipur in December 1980 as foreign-trained insurgents had become uncontrollable. Since then, it has been periodically extended. Under the Act, the Army has been deployed to “assist the civil administration.”
Following mass agitations for repeal, the Manipur government lifted the AFSPA from seven Assembly segments from August 12, 2004.
The government hoped that this gesture would elicit a positive response from the insurgents. However, in August 2006 they lobbed grenades at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) temple in Imphal, killing six persons.
