CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF THE AFSPA

Despite Home Minister Amit Shah's promise to repeal the controversial AFSPA from Northeast, it is not that simple as the strife in Myanmar has given ample space for the separatist outfits from the region to survive longer and in a safer ambience than the previous years, writes RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA 

- RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA 

The controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA was in the spotlight again after union Home Minister Amit Shah announced recently that the law would be repealed from the Northeast within the next three to four years.

Delivering a speech at Tuensang ahead of the assembly polls in Nagaland, the minister also hoped that the initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an agreement with the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) would ‘bear fruit’ and the development issues of the districts in the eastern region of the border state would be addressed. He claimed that there has been a 60 percent reduction in the deaths of security forces while civilian deaths have lessened by 83 percent in the Northeast.

The origin of AFSPA can be traced to the British regime which was promulgated during the Quit India movement in 1942. After independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru retained the Act owing to disturbed conditions in the Naga inhabited areas in Assam and Manipur. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Bill was passed by Parliament and it received the assent of the President on September 11, 1958.

Currently, AFSPA is operational in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and parts of Arunachal Pradesh in the country’s northeast and Jammu & Kashmir. It can be imposed by the central and state governments in a state or parts of it after it has been declared “disturbed’’ under the same Act.