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28 Dec 2021 Committee constituted to remove AFSPA from Nagaland

Posted at 12:35h in Daily current-affairs by khyati khare 0 Comments

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On December 26, 2021, the central government constituted a high-level committee to look into the withdrawal of AFSPA from Nagaland, after 6 civilians were killed by the army on December 4, 2021.

This five-member committee will be headed by a secretary level officer.
Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi will be the chairman of this committee.
Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Piyush Goyal will be the member-secretary of this committee.
Other members of the committee include Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Nagaland and DGP of Assam Rifles.

This committee has been formed because recently 6 civilians were killed by the army in Nagaland.
After this incident, the demand for abolishing AFSPA is rising loudly.
It will examine the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Nagaland.
This committee has been asked to submit its report within 45 days.

AFSPA is an act that empowers the armed forces to arrest without warrant and even shoot under specific circumstances in ‘disturbed areas’.
The Act gives special powers to the armed forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
Once the area is declared ‘disturbed’, it has to maintain the status quo for at least 6 months as per the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976.

AFSPA was imposed on the north-eastern states, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir during the period when some states were under the influence of terrorism.
Punjab was the first state to repeal this act. It is followed by Tripura and Meghalaya.
At present, this Act is applicable in parts of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh. In Assam, three districts and four police stations are covered under this Act.
The Union Home Ministry had completely removed AFSPA from Meghalaya in March 2018. AFSPA was also removed from several police stations in Arunachal Pradesh during 2018 and 2019.