AFSPA to be rolled back: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA will be withdrawn from the entire Northeast next year, barring one or two States. Speaking at the signing of a tripartite MoU between the Centre, Assam and Nagaland to facilitate mineral oil operations in the Assam-Nagaland boundary areas, Shah said that shrinking of areas covered under AFSPA is an indicator of peace.

“I am confident that barring one or two States, we will withdraw AFSPA from the entire Northeast next year,” he said. Underlining that the signing of the MoU was a “historic moment”, Shah said it has removed the last hurdle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a developed Northeast. The MoU is aimed at undertaking oil and mineral explorations in the disputed area belt (DAB) along the Assam-Nagaland border. Exploration activities remained stalled for more than three decades in the region due to jurisdictional differences.

“This will open new avenues for mineral exploration in the Northeast. The area not only has oil and gas but huge mineral deposits, which could not be explored due to law and order issues,” Shah said. With just one MoU, the extraction capacity of 1,000-1,500 barrels per day can be increased by 10 times, he said.

“In one field alone, there are possibilities of recovery of more than Rs 15,000 crore. If we extract the oil deposits spread across Nagaland, we would be able to reduce dependence on foreign countries for our oil needs,” he said. Shah also said that since Narendra Modi took charge, he kept his focus on the Northeast and became the prime minister with the highest number of visits to the region.

Since 2019, 12 accords have been signed between various groups and state Governments, which resulted in a significant drop of around 80 per cent in incidents of violence in the region, Shah said.

“The development of both Assam and Nagaland remained hampered for a long time because a consensus could not be reached for an MoU. The avenue that opened today will open doors for development for both states. It is the best example of cooperative federalism,” he said.