Arunachal opposes AFSPA extension

New Delhi: The Congress-led Arunachal Pradesh Government on Thursday opposed the ‘unilateral’ move of the Union Home Ministry to extend the  Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act (AFSPA) to all the districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
Chief Minister, Nabam Tuki called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here and expressed concern over the Centre’s decision to extend AFSPA to the peaceful districts of the State.
While terming this decision as unilateral, he mentioned that it was not taken in consultation with the State Government.
The Union Home Minister assured the Chief Minister to examine and review this decision of extending AFSPA in the state. An official level meeting between senior officials from the state and the Ministry of Home Affairs will be held in New Delhi on Friday as a follow up of the CM’s meeting with Union Home Minister for early resolution of the issue, a state government statement said.
The Chief Minister highlighted that Arunachal Pradesh has been the most peaceful state in the NE Region with no history of home grown insurgency.
He mentioned that the three districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding are insurgency infected as ultras from other neighboring states and Myanmar operate in these areas.
AFSPA has been in force in these three districts since 1991 after they were categorized as disturbed area by Ministry of Home Affairs. It was subsequently extended to a 20 km belt in districts bordering Assam.
Against this historical backdrop of AFSPA in Arunachal Pradesh, the Chief Minister categorically denied the need for extending the ambit of AFSPA to border districts of the State in entirety as notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs recently.