The Centre on Wednesday declared entire Nagaland as a ‘disturbed area’ for six more months under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA).
According to the gagette notification issued by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Wednesday, the whole of Nagaland area is in a “disturbed and dangerous condition”.
The notification said: “Whereas the Central Government is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole of the state of Nagaland is in such a disturbed and dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary.”
“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (No. 28 of 1958) the Central Government hereby declares that whole of the state of Nagaland to be ‘disturbed area’ for a period of six months with effect from June 30, 2021 for the purpose of the said Act,” the notification said.
The AFSPA, which grants special powers to the Indian armed forces in the declared ‘disturbed areas’, has been in force in Nagaland for several decades.
Even after a framework agreement was signed on August 3, 2015 between NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and central government’s interlocutor RN Ravi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The framework agreement was signed after over 80 rounds of negotiations in a period of nearly 18 years with the first breakthrough in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed after decades of insurgency in Nagaland.