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While Nagaland has a total of 16 districts, Arunachal Pradesh has 26...
Digital Desk: In order to help anti-insurgency operations, the "disturbed area" provision of the AFSPA has been extended by six months in 12 districts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh as well as select areas of five more districts in the two states, the Center announced on Friday.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 gives security forces the authority to conduct operations and arrest people without a warrant, as well as protection from arrest and prosecution if they kill someone.
According to a notification issued by the Union Home Ministry, the AFSPA will be extended for six months beginning October 1 in nine districts — Dimapur, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Mon, Kiphire, Noklak, Phek, Peren and Zunheboto — and 16 police stations in four other districts — Kohima, Mokokchung, Longleng and Wokha — of Nagaland.
In a separate notification, the ministry stated that the application of the "disturbed area" under the AFSPA will remain for six months from Saturday in Tirap, Changlang, and Longding districts, as well as territories under the jurisdiction of Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Arunachal Pradesh's Namsai district, which borders Assam.
While Nagaland has a total 16 districts, Arunachal Pradesh has 26.
The AFSPA's jurisdiction was curtailed in April of this year, on the advice of a high-level committee formed to investigate the prospect of abolishing the AFSPA following the killing of 14 people by the Army in Nagaland's Mon district in December 2021 in a case of "mistaken identity."
The AFSPA was completely withdrawn in Tripura in 2015, in Meghalaya in 2018 and in Mizoram in the 1980s.
The "disturbed area" was also partially withdrawn in Manipur and Assam too.
In response to the law's allegedly "draconian" clauses, there have been protests and calls from the Northeast as well as Jammu & Kashmir for its total withdrawal.
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