AFSPA in Nagaland: The Central Government on December 30, 2021, issued a notification in which it declared an entire state of Nagaland as a 'disturbed area' and extended the AFSPA, 1958 in the state for the period of another six months. Govt extending the Armed Forces act till June 30, 2022, stated that Nagaland's 'disturbed and dangerous' situation has necessitated the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power. The Indian Army is also currently conducting a court of inquiry into an ambush that went wrong in Nagaland on December 4, 2021.
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA) extended in Nagaland for six more months with effect from today. pic.twitter.com/Vkw3fPGeJK
— ANI (@ANI) December 30, 2021
The extension of AFSPA in Nagaland has come days after the Home Ministry instituted a high-level committee chaired by a Secretary-level officer for examining the possibility of AFSPA repeal in Nagaland. The committee was also scheduled to submit its report within 45 days. The decision came three weeks after 6 innocent civilians on December 4, 2021, in the state were killed in an Army ambush and eight more in the violence that was triggered in Mon District, Nagaland.
The withdrawal of the Disturbed area and AFSPA from Nagaland was to be based on the recommendations of the committee after a report is submitted by it within 45 days.
The Nagaland Assembly on December 20, 2021, had unanimously passed a resolution demanding the repeal of AFSPA in Nagaland.
Nagaland adopted resolution to repeal AFSPA
The resolution for the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was adopted during a special session that was held in aftermath of the botched security ambush that claimed the lives of 14 civilians earlier in December 2021. Massive protests have been held in the Capital, Kohima, with the Nagaland cabinet also recommending the repeal of the law.
The resolution to repeal AFSPA in Nagaland was adopted by a voice vote. Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio, while moving the resolution, said that for the last 20 years Nagaland government has been recommending that AFSPA must be removed and the state must be taken off from the list of the ‘disturbed areas’.
AFSPA in Nagaland: Govt demands repeal of the law
Nagaland Government has declared on many occasions clearly that the state must be free from the act that gives soldiers sweeping powers to arrest without warrants or even shoot to kill in certain situations.
In view of the improved situation in the Northeast state, the Nagaland government has been consistently taking a stand that the state must not be declared a ‘disturbed area’ and the entire Naga Society has been calling to repeal AFSPA.
The Chief Minister while informing about the State govt’s clear stand on the law further added that the declaration of a state or any other area as the ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA is made by the Central Government generally for a period of 6 months only at a time.
Nonetheless, as per CM, the objections of the state government on continued imposition of AFSPA in Nagaland have been ignored by the Central Government and the declaration of the act in the state is renewed ‘again and again'.
Repeal AFSPA: What led to the adoption of resolution by Nagaland govt?
The resolution against the Armed Forces Special Act has been adopted in the aftermath of the killing of 14 civilians by the security forces. It included 6 in a botched anti-terrorist operation and 8 in the subsequent incidents in the Mon district of Nagaland on December 4 and 5, 2021.
The passed resolution to repeal AFSPA in Nagaland condemned the massacre that took place in the Oting-Tiru Village area on December 4 which involved the indiscriminate firing by 21 para special forces of the Indian Army in which 13 innocent civilians were killed.
Nagaland Government also demanded an apology from the appropriate authority as well as an assurance that justice will be delivered to those who lost their lives in a botched military operation in Nagaland.
History of AFSPA in NagalandThe Armed Forces Special Powers Act is a 1958 act of the Indian Parliament that grant special powers to the Indian armed forces to maintain public order in disturbed areas. One such act which was passed on September 11, 1958, was applicable to the Naga Hills, then the part of Assam. The territorial scope of the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958, further expanded to seven states of the Northeast including Nagaland. It was enacted in the region by the Indian Parliament to give the Indian Security Forces special powers to deal with the Naga armed insurgency. Naga armed insurgency is an ethnic conflict in Nagaland. It is an ongoing conflict that is fought between the ethnic Nagas and the governments of India and Myanmar. The ethnic group of Nagaland demands independent ‘greater Nagaland’. |
AFSPA states in India 2020
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is in force in the following Indian States:
- Assam
- Nagaland
- Manipur
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Jammu and Kashmir
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