KOHIMA: The Union Home Ministry (MHA) has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland for another six months, officials said here on Thursday.
According to an official of the Nagaland Home Department, the mountainous state, bordering Myanmar, has been under the AFSPA for the past several decades.
In a notification, Joint Secretary, MHA, Satyendra Garg said that the Central government is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of Nagaland is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary.
“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No. 28 of 1958), the Central Government hereby declares that whole of the said state to be a ‘disturbed area’ for a period of six months with effect from June 30, 2020 for the purpose of that Act,” said the notification, issued on Tuesday.
The Nagaland government official said that the state has been requesting the Central government to resolve the long-ending Naga issues, involving the numerous outfits. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), which had several rounds of negotiations with the Indian government in Delhi as well as outside India after signing a ceasefire pact in August 1997, is one of the most influential rebel groups in the northeastern region.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had signed a “framework agreement” with its leadership in 2015.
Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi is also the Centre’s interlocutor to hold talks with NSCN-IM and other Naga outfits.
Recently, Ravi had written to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on the “deterioration of law and order in the state”.
The Nagaland government, however, in a series of statements, claimed that the state is in a normal situation.