Army immunity in some tribal areas withdrawn

After taking several steps on the path of freedom in the last eight years, the Narendra Modi administration has taken a big step forward.

On April 1, it restricted the operation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the northeastern states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.

AFSPA grants legal immunity to security personnel for their actions operating in insurgency-hit areas declared as “disturbed areas”.

AFSPA has been in force in some parts of the Northeast since 1958. The British Indian administration got control of the region in 1826 when it annexed the Ahom kingdom and made it the Assam province. A large number of tribal communities, each with its own distinct culture and quite eager to protect it, live in the region.

As many as 213 of the 635 tribal groups listed by the Anthropological Survey of India inhabit this region. The British largely left the tribals alone. When they decided to pull out of the subcontinent, many tribes feared they would be swamped by the mainstream, leading to destruction of their culture.

After Independence, the Indian government created new tribal states like Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram. On August 14, a day before India gained freedom, Naga National Council, led by A.Z. Phizo, declared Nagaland a free state, paving the way for insurgency. As moves for a political settlement failed, the government ordered the army in 1956 to undertake counter-insurgency operations. Naga Hills was declared a disturbed area.

Later insurgencies began in some other parts of the region too. The mutual rivalries of the various ethnic groups are a factor that makes a political settlement difficult.

However, successive Central governments persevered and persuaded many groups to abandon the path of violence and join the democratic process.

One of the first acts of the Modi administration was to sign an accord with a Naga outfit which had kept away when a previous government made a settlement with other militant groups in the region.

Citing widespread human rights violations by security forces in the Northeast, civil society organisations have been demanding withdrawal of AFSPA for many years.

A few years ago the Supreme Court, acting on a public interest petition, ordered a scrutiny of complaints of army excesses in Manipur. The exercise revealed that many complaints were genuine. But neither the army nor the government acted on the finding.

In recent years, Chief Ministers of several northeastern states too have joined the chorus for withdrawal of AFSPA.

The demand gathered new momentum last December after security forces shot and killed 15 civilians at Mon in Nagaland, mistaking them for insurgents.

The Centre’s immediate response to the outrage was a mechanical reiteration that AFSPA could not be dispensed with.

However, the Union Home Ministry quietly began a review of the insurgency situation.

It found that the situation has improved in parts of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland and orders were issued limiting the area of operation of AFSPA in these states from the first of this month. Apparently the government views this as an experimental measure. For, the government notification limits the operation of the new order to six months.

The wording of Home Minister Amit Shah’s tweet announcing the decision suggests that the government expects the decision to yield a political dividend. He wrote: “In a significant step. GoI (Government of India) under the decisive leadership of PM Shri@NarendraModi Ji has decided to reduce disturbed areas under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades.” One need not, of course, grudge Shah giving Modi credit for this unexpected, important decision.

Shah attributed the decision to the improved security situation and fast-tracked development due to the consistent efforts and several agreements to end insurgency and bring lasting peace.

A Home Ministry official gave an account of the multi-level consultations that preceded the decision.

Even after the present relaxation, vast areas of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, are still under the dark shadow of AFSPA.

The review that led to the current reduction in the extent of disturbed areas holds an important lesson. Instead of waiting for a tragic event like the Mon massacre to force it to act, the Centre must undertake to review the security situation at regular intervals and take appropriate corrective measures.