By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) is likely to be withdrawn from most of Northeast by next year, with the law expected to remain in force in only one or two states.
Speaking after the signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Centre and the governments of Assam and Nagaland for mineral oil exploration in the disputed border belt, Shah said the proposed rollback reflects improving peace and stability across the region.
“I am confident that barring one or two states, we will withdraw AFSPA from the entire Northeast next year,” he said.
The agreement is expected to facilitate the resumption of oil and mineral exploration in the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) along the Assam-Nagaland border, where such activities had remained stalled for more than three decades due to boundary disputes and security concerns.
Shah described the MoU as a significant step towards unlocking the region’s natural resource potential. He said the Northeast possesses substantial reserves of oil, natural gas and minerals that remained largely unexplored because of prolonged law and order challenges.
“This will open new avenues for mineral exploration in the Northeast. The area not only has oil and gas but huge mineral deposits, which could not be explored due to law and order issues,” Shah said.
The Union minister said oil production from the area could increase substantially from the current level of around 1,000–1,500 barrels per day. He also claimed that a single field in the region could contain recoverable resources worth over Rs 15,000 crore.
Shah linked the development to the broader peace process in the Northeast, noting that 12 peace accords had been signed since 2019. According to him, violent incidents in the region have declined by around 80 per cent during the period.
He said the agreement would help advance economic development in both Assam and Nagaland while strengthening cooperation between the two states on long-pending issues related to the disputed border region.