The central government is considering the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from some districts in Jammu and Kashmir, sources told India Today.
Sources add that an announcement in this regard could be made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Union Territory later this month.
Areas in J&K were brought under the AFSPA in September 1990 through a notification issued by the then state government, declaring the Kashmir valley a ‘disturbed area’ under Section 3 of the law. It was only in August 2001 that the then state government extended the scope of AFSPA to Jammu province.
AFSPA REMOVAL
On March 31 of this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced a reduction in the number of areas in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur where AFSPA was in force.
As per reports, a decision in this regard was taken on the basis of the recommendations of a high-level committee constituted to examine the possibility of removal of AFSPA following the killing of 14 civilians in an Army operation in Nagaland’s Mon in December last year.
The AFSPA is now fully applicable in 31 districts and partially in 12 districts of four Northeastern states, namely Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
This legislation was completely withdrawn from Mizoram in the 1980s, Tripura in 2015 and Meghalaya in 2018.
