Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while talking to the media after the cabinet meeting said that though the cabinet has recommended the complete withdrawal of AFSPA from the State, however, the State government will abide by the decision taken by the union government or the home ministry. He further said that the final decision will be taken by the home ministry as they will assess the security angle.
It should be mentioned that In view of the significant improvement in the security situation of the state, the cabinet approved the recommendation for the withdrawal of AFSPA from the remaining eight districts of the State. The Union government has already withdrawn the AFSPA from 70 per cent areas of the Assam. “The final decision, however, will be taken by the Government of India”, CM Sarma added.
Notably, 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. It was imposed in the maximum areas of the North Eastern region due to rise in insurgency during the early 90’s.
Security analysts feel that as most of the insurgency outfits in Assam, bearing the ULFA (I), have signed peace treaties with the governmenta and AFSPA has little to do with the internal security of the state. This is the reason why the State government has recommended a complete withdrawal of the AFSPA.
Currently, AFSPA is operational in 5 states of the country out of which 4 are Northe Eastern states except Jammu and Kashmir. The act is partially imposed in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. AFSPA was revoked from Tripura in 2015 and from Meghalaya in 2018 after insurgency came down to a significant level in both the States.
Earlier in March 2023, the Centre had decided to further reduce the jurisdiction of ‘disturbed areas’ under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. Home ministry report says that Compared to the year 2014, there is a reduction of 76% in the extremist incidents in the year 2022 in the Northeastern region. Similarly, the deaths of security personnel came down by 90 percent and civilians have come down by 97% during this period.”
Notably, the Assam cabinet also approved an additional Rs 41.77 crore for developing infrastructure for the newly-raised 2nd battalion of the Assam Police in Hailakandi, 4th battalion in Sivasagar and 5th Battalion in Biswanath, CM Sarma said.
Notably, the Assam cabinet also approved an additional Rs 41.77 crore for developing infrastructure for the newly-raised 2nd battalion of the Assam Police in Hailakandi, 4th battalion in Sivasagar and 5th Battalion in Biswanath, CM Sarma said.
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