After setting up a committee to study the demand for withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), the Centre on Thursday extended the AFSPA in Nagaland for another six months. Issuing a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the extension of “Disturbed Area” under the AFSPA was extended for a period of six months from December 30, 2021.
Nagaland has been under the AFSPA since 1958. The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant besides giving immunity from arrest and prosecution to the security forces if they shoot someone dead.
The State has been witnessing a clamour for withdrawal of the AFSPA over the recent mistaken killing of 14 civilians by Special Forces tracking down Myanmar-based terror groups. The extension comes three days after the Union Government constituted a high-level five-member committee under the chairmanship of Registrar General and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi with Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Piyush Goyal as its member-secretary. The chief secretary and director general of police of Nagaland and the director general of Assam Rifles are the other members of the committee.
The committee is supposed to submit its report within 45 days.
The notification issued on Thursday said that the Centre “is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of the State of Nagaland is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary”.”Now, therefore, in the exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No.28 of 1958) the Central Government hereby declares that whole of the State of Nagaland to be ‘disturbed area’ for a period of six months with effect from December 30, 2021, for the purpose of the said Act,” said the Home Ministry notification issued by Goyal, the member-secretary in the high-level panel.
Huge protests pushed the Nagaland Government to call a special one-day session on December 20 where the Assembly unanimously resolved to demand the repeal of AFSPA. The resolution said that the House “appreciated and supported” citizens and civil society organisations over their demand for the repeal of AFSPA and delivery of justice and appealed to “all sections to follow democratic norms and non-violence in the collective endeavour towards realisation of peace and delivery of justice”.