The Centre on Monday extended the ‘disturbed area’ tag under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) for three districts of Arunachal Pradesh for six months till September 30.
These three districts include Tirap, Changlang and Longding in the state, according to reports.
However the ‘disturbed area’ tag has been removed from three other districts of the state.
A review of the law and order situation in Arunachal’s six districts was undertaken before the March 31 deadline for the validity of the “disturbed area” designation under the AFSPA.
The decision to enlist three districts of the state as ‘disturbed area’ has been taken after considering the present law and order situation in six districts of the state.
The home ministry has also declared the areas falling under the jurisdiction of four police stations as ‘disturbed area’ under Section 3 of the AFSPA.
The four police stations that have been classified as ‘disturbed areas’ include Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Namsai district, Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district and Sunpara in Lohit district.
The ‘disturbed area’ tag have been withdrawn from four police stations of the state which are Balemu and Balukpong in West Kameng district , Seijosa in East Kameng district and Balijan in Papumpare district.
The AFSPA is imposed in areas where armed forces are required to operate in aid to civil authorities. For AFSPA to become valid, an area, however, needs to be declared disturbed either by the Central or the state government under Section 3 of the 1958 Act.
The Union Home Ministry has taken the decision to classify the ‘disturbed areas’ by exercising its powers conferred under section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.
