AFSPA will be eased in more areas, says Kiren Rijiju

New Delhi: Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju has said that the contentious Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives sweeping powers to the Army and security forces in disturbed areas, could be withdrawn gradually from the northeastern states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and some other areas if the overall security scenario shows signs of improvement.

The Centre could also take a fresh look at AFSPA’s imposition in Jammu and Kashmir if the security situation there shows signs of any improvement, the minister claimed. There have been demands from human rights groups, particularly in the Valley, for withdrawing AFSPA, claiming it had led to the use of excessive force by the security agencies.

During UPA-2 too, the government had iniated the process of identifying some areas in Jammu and Kashmir for “partial lifting of AFSPA’” as the overall scenario there had shown signs of improvement. This, however, was strongly resisted by the security forces, and the decision was put on hold.

As of now, the contentious law has been completely withdrawn from Meghalaya and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, but is still in force in Nagaland, Assam and three districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Mr Rijiju said

AFSPA had already been withdrawn from some parts of the Northeast and the government was hopeful that the situation in other areas would also improve in the coming months, after which AFSPA could be lifted from there as well.

The minister also claimed the final outcome of the peace talks with Naga outfit NSCN(I-M) would turn out to be positive though he did not set any deadline on when the final peace agreement with the group was likely to be signed. The minister claimed the Centre was extremely sensitive to the demands of the Nagas and other groups in the Northeast. The process of talks with the Naga group, he added, was followed with all sincerity so the final outcome too should be positive. However, he did not fix any timeframe as to when the Centre and the NSCN(I-M)  would sign the final agreement that would bring peace to insurgency-torn Nagaland. The Centre signed an agreement with the Naga outfit in August 2015, though the broad framework of this is still not in the public domain.