The areas under the “disturbed areas” notification of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA has been extended in four districts of the state for six more months, the Assam Police on Sunday said.
At the Assam Police Day 2023 celebrations in Guwahati, DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh said the ‘disturbed area’ tag, which allows enforcement of the AFSPA, has, however, been withdrawn from four other districts, which are Jorhat, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao.
It comes into effect from today (October 1).
“From today, only four districts in Assam will have AFSPA. These are Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Charaideo,” Singh said.
The four Upper Assam districts have been strongholds of militant group ULFA in the past.
The Assam government had last extended the ‘disturbed area’ notification under the AFSPA for another six months with effect from April 1 in these eight districts. The “disturbed areas” notification is applicable for six months, following which it can be extended by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The AFSPA gives security forces absolute power to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant, besides giving immunity from arrest and prosecution to the forces, even if they shoot someone dead.
The ‘disturbed areas’ notification had been applied to the whole of Assam since 1990. However, last year, the Centre had removed the “disturbed areas” notification under AFSPA from the entire state except nine districts and one sub-division of another district. In March this year, it was further withdrawn from one more district in the state, reported The Indian Express.