AFSPA revoked in Meghalaya, scaled down in Arunachal Pradesh

The Union Home Ministry announced on Monday that the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) was revoked in Meghalaya and reduced to eight police stations in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

According to reports, AFSPA was fully withdrawn from all areas of Meghalaya from April 1. Till September 2017, close to 40 per cent of the state was under AFSPA. However, after recent review in consultations with the state government, the Act was removed entirely from the state, a statement from the ministry said.

Similarly, AFSPA is now applicable in only eight police stations of Arunachal Pradesh, down from the 16 last year.

AFSPA has, however, been extended by six months in three districts of Arunachal Pradesh — Tirap, Longding and Changlang — which border with Myanmar and specific areas which fall under the eight police stations of seven districts bordering Assam.

The three districts have been under AFSPA since January 2016.

The decision to remove AFSPA was taken after significant improvement in the security situation of the two states, reports suggested.

AFSPA was withdrawn from Tripura in 2015. In the last one year, areas under AFSPA have reduced.

The AFSPA gives power to army and central forces deployed in “disturbed areas” to kill anyone acting against law, arrest and search any premises without a warrant and provide cover to forces from prosecution and legal suits without Centre’s sanction.

The AFSPA has been in force in Nagaland, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir for several decades, and since the early 1990s in Assam.

Rights groups in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding withdrawal of the AFSPA as they claim the law gives "sweeping powers" to the security forces to act against civilians.

Manipur's 'Iron Lady' Irom Sharmila, the poster girl for protests against AFPSA, had been on a hunger strike for 16 long years, demanding that the Act be repealed. She began her fast on November 4, 2000, two days after Assam Rifles personnel gunned down 10 people, including teenage students, at Malom near Imphal. She called off the 'unprecendented' satyagraha on August 9, 2016.