• The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was extended for six months in entire Manipur, except the jurisdictions of 13 police stations, in view of the law and order situation there.

• The AFSPA has also been extended to eight districts in Nagaland and 21 police station areas in five other districts of the state for six months, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• The law was also extended to Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and three police station areas in Namsai district in the state for six months beginning April 1.

What is AFSPA?

• Law and order is a State Subject. However, the central government is supplementing efforts of the state governments for curbing the illegal and unlawful activities of militant/insurgent groups of northeast states through various measures.

• These include deployment of Central Armed Police Forces, reimbursement of security related expenditure (SRE) to the state governments under SRE scheme, central assistance to the state governments for modernisation of state police forces, sanction of India Reserve Battalions, banning the Unlawful Associations operating in NE region under UAPA, declaring specific areas/states as “disturbed areas” for the purpose of AFSPA and issuing notifications for Unified Command Structure.

• The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was enacted in 1958 to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon the members of the Armed Forces in the “disturbed areas” in Assam and Manipur. It was amended and extended to Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

• If the governor of a state or the administrator of the Union Territory to which this Act extends or the central government is of the opinion that the whole or any part of such state of Union Territory is in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that the use of Armed Forces in aid of the civil power is necessary, the governor of state or the administrator of Union Territory or the central government may declare the whole or such part of such state or Union Territory to be a “disturbed area”.

• The AFSPA gives the Armed Forces sweeping powers to search and arrest, and to open fire if they deem it necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.

• AFSPA is imposed in areas where Armed Forces are required to operate in aid of civil authorities. 

• For AFSPA to become valid, an area, however, needs to be declared “disturbed” either by the central or the state government under Section 3 of the 1958 Act.

• The “disturbed area” notification under AFSPA was completely removed from Tripura in 2015 and Meghalaya in 2018.

• Civil society groups and rights activists have been demanding withdrawal of the “draconian law” from the entire northeast claiming violation of human rights by the armed forces.

• The cry to repeal the act gained renewed momentum following the death of 14 civilians in firing by security forces in a botched anti-insurgency operation and retaliatory violence in Mon district of Nagaland on December 4, 2021.

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