‘Disturbed Areas’

The decision of the Union government to decrease the jurisdiction of “disturbed areas” declared under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 – AFSPA – in three Northeastern states, namely Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, is a very welcome move. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that this decision of the Centre has been taken on account of a significant improvement in the overall security situation in the region. Importantly to recall, while the Assam Disturbed Areas Act was enacted way back in 1955 in the wake of armed insurgency breaking out in the then Naga Hills district of Assam, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was brought in 1958 in order to facilitate the deployment of the armed forces to control the insurgency situation. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which was initially applied only in the Naga Hills, grants the military wide powers of arrest, the right to shoot to kill, and the right to occupy or destroy property in counterinsurgency operations. Initially applied only in the Naga Hills, the Act was later invoked almost all over the Northeast as a number of armed insurgent groups sprang up in different states. Simultaneous declaration of most states as disturbed areas had once led to such a situation when almost the whole of the region had become a so-called disturbed area. But with the Union government engaging in peace talks with different insurgent groups in the past two decades or so, the overall situation in the region has definitely improved, prompting the Centre to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the ‘disturbed areas’ tag in a phased manner. According to the Centre, compared to 2014, there was a reduction of 76% in extremist-related incidents in the Northeast in 2022. Similarly, the number of deaths of security personnel and civilians in the region has come down by 90% and 97%, respectively, during this period. A PIB press note has said that this has become possible due to the consistent efforts of the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. It has also described the further withdrawal of the disturbed areas tag as a fallout of “an unprecedented improvement in the security situation” in Northeast India. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also said that prioritising the security, peace, and development of the Northeast was done for the first time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a result of which the region today is rapidly heading down the path of peace and development.