MHA extends 'disturbed area' tag for 3 Arunachal districts

The Union government on Wednesday extended the "disturbed area" tag under the AFSPA for three districts of Arunachal Pradesh for another six months.

In a notification, the Union Home Ministry also retained the "disturbed area" tag for four police station areas under three other districts.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act gives powers to the security forces to arrest anyone and search any premises without any warrant.

The ministry said the central government, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the AFSPA, 1958, (28 of 1958) had declared Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the area falling within the jurisdiction of four police stations in the districts of the state as "disturbed area" on October 1, 2019.

A further review of the law and order situation in Tirap, Changlang and Longding and in the area falling within the jurisdiction of the four police stations has been undertaken, it said.

"Now, therefore, Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areas falling within the jurisdiction of the following four police stations in other districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the State of Assam, are declared as 'disturbed area' under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 up to September 30, with effect from April 1, 2020, unless withdrawn earlier," the notification stated.

The four police stations are: Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Namsai district, Roing police station in Lower Dibang Valley district and Sunpura police station in Lohit district.

The AFSPA is imposed in areas where armed forces are required to operate in aid to civil authorities.

For the AFSPA to become valid, an area, however, needs to be declared disturbed either by the central or the state governments under Section 3 of the Act.

Some parts of Arunachal Pradesh have presence of banned militant outfits like NSCN and ULFA, an official said.