Guwahati: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauded the Centre and the state administration for lowering the number of regions in the Northeast that are subject to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Singh said that the task of repealing AFSPA has been ongoing in north-eastern states for the last three to four years, speaking at a felicitation ceremony for the 1971 War Veterans in Guwahati of Assam on Saturday.
“It’s no minor thing that the job of repealing AFSPA has been done in the north-eastern states over the previous 3-4 years,” Rajnath Singh stated. In Assam, the AFSPA was recently repealed in 23 districts.”
“In Manipur and Nagaland, AFSPA was withdrawn from 15 police stations. That is significant in and of itself. This is the product of the region’s long-term peace and stability,” Singh added.
The defence minister further stated that all three military forces wanted the AFSPA out of Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible. “Even our Tri services want the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) repealed from Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible,” he claimed.
The Assam government, for example, held an award ceremony at the Srimanta Sankaradev Kalakshetra in Guwahati to honour the greatest sacrifice of soldiers who fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The event was also attended by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his cabinet colleagues, and senior government officials.