Center Declares Three Districts of Arunachal Pradesh as ‘Disturbed Area’

GG News Bureau

Itanagar, 2nd Oct. The Union Home Ministry on Friday declared three districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam as “disturbed areas” under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Areas under Namsai and Mahadevapura police stations of Namsai district have also been declared as “Disturbed Areas” under Section 3 of AFSPA 1958. An MHA notification issued by Additional Secretary Piyush Goyal said that the law and order situation in the area has been reviewed.

This order will be in force from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. This order will remain in force until it is withdrawn. According to the notification, law and order situation in the area falling under the jurisdiction of four police stations in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and in other districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering the state of Assam has been reviewed. Another official said that banned militant organizations like NSCN, ULFA and NDFB are present in some areas of Arunachal Pradesh.

AFSPA empowers security forces to arrest any person and enter premises without warrant or conduct searches along with certain other actions. Under the AFSPA Act, the central government, on the basis of the report of the governor, declares a state or area as disturbed and deploys central security forces there. AFSPA gives special powers to the security forces in the disputed areas of the Northeast. Under this, security personnel have been allowed to conduct search operations and arrest anyone without any warrant.

Recently, the Assam government in a statement said that in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, the entire state of Assam has been declared as “disturbed area” for six months with effect from August 28, 2021.