Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday stated that the state government is putting in every effort for total withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.
Talking to reporters, Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Efforts are underway to withdraw AFSPA completely from Assam. Our aim is to create an environment of security in all the five districts of Assam, which are still tagged as ‘disturbed area’,”.
The Assam government extended AFSPA, in eight districts of the state for six more months with effect from April 1.
As per the notification, the “disturbed area” status, however, has been withdrawn from Lakhipur sub-division of Cachar district.
Union Home minister Amit Shah recently announced removal of AFSPA from certain districts in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
“In a significant step, GoI has decided to reduce disturbed areas under AFSPA in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades,” Amit Shah asserted.
According to the home ministry, several peace accords had been implemented in the northeast States in the past four years and as a result, most extremist groups had laid down arms and become partners in the peace and development of the northeast. Since 2014, around 7,000 insurgents had surrendered.
It said that the Central Government was in constant dialogue with the State Governments and other stakeholders, and due to the improvement in the security situation, the ‘Disturbed Area’ notification under the AFSPA was completely withdrawn from Tripura in 2015 and Meghalaya in 2018.
The ‘Disturbed Area’ notification was in force since 1990 in the whole of Assam. On April 1, 2022, the AFSPA was removed from the entire State of Assam except for nine districts, including one subdivision of another district. From April 1, the districts under the AFSPA in Assam will be further reduced to eight as the AFSPA has been withdrawn from the Lakhipur subdivision of the Cachar district.
Various organization staged protest against AFSPA in northeast because the law has been termed as ‘Draconian’ law because maximum powers were in the hands of armed forces and they can detained or arrest any person in case of any doubt.
The post Assam CM says efforts for total withdrawal of AFSPA from state appeared first on OUR INDIA.
