So the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) has been withdrawn from certain districts and police stations of at least three states of the North East. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act was first implemented by British Viceroy Linlithgow to quell the violence that followed the Quit India Movement led by Indian freedom fighters in 1942. The Movement at the time became leaderless as the leaders had to take cover from British assault. Ironically the Act was amended and applied to a part of the country by leaders of Independent India. Its not important to know where the AFSPA has been lifted from but where it is still invoked from April 1.
While the NDA Government feels it is doing justice to the states of the North East by reducing the areas under AFSPA, the question is why some areas in the four states of Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are still considered ‘disturbed.’ One look at these areas in Nagaland will inform us that they are either brisk commercial hubs or areas bordering Myanmar which are difficult to police. In the commercial hubs of Nagaland people are subjected to extortion and intimidation by Naga militant outfits who are respectfully referred to as Naga National Workers and the extortion money is referred to as taxes. Since the state police don’t operate freely due to the unholy alliance between the NSCN(IM) and the state government an independent force has to do the dirty job.
In Arunachal Pradesh, Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts border the Mon District of Nagaland which is the area dominated by various factions of Naga militants on one side and the ULFA and Bodo militants on the other. The above areas too are declared ‘disturbed areas’ and AFSPA has been extended there for 6 months beginning April 1.
In Assam, the ‘disturbed areas’ tag has been withdrawn completely from 23 districts and one sub-division of the state’s 33 districts. Only nine districts and one sub-division will still be tagged as ‘disturbed area’ under the AFSPA.
The manner in which AFSPA is being lifted in Manipur reeks of an ethnic b. ias. Most of the areas where the AFSPA has been revoked are in the valley. AFSPA was revoked from areas under Imphal Municipality since 2004. So as of now AFSPA is enforced only in the hill districts of Manipur where the NSCN(IM) and other Kuki outfits operate. As has always been the case in Manipur the politics of the hills and plains continues to be the twisted tale. Of 60 seats in the Assembly 40 are from the Imphal valley and only 20 in the Naga inhabited hills.
If the Modi Government wishes to prove its nationalistic fervour as it repeatedly demonstrates then it should simply revoke all colonial laws of which AFSPA and sedition are the most abrasive and contentious.