No proposal to discontinue AFSPA in Arunachal's Tirap, Changlang, Lomgding areas

There is no proposal under consideration to discontinue the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Tirap, Changlang and Longding areas of Arunachal Pradesh, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said on November 17, during an operation conducted in the area of Laptang in Khonsa Circle, an insurgent was apprehended who gave inputs about presence of "war like stories" in stores of three houses in Longkjon village in Londing district.

As a follow up to the inputs, on November 18-19 an Army column searched the three suspected houses in Longkjon, Bhamre said in a written reply to a question.

"The search operation was conducted in accordance with the laid down procedures, causing no undue harassment of the locals. Post the search operation, a No Objection Certificate was obtained from the village elders.

"Based on certain allegations regarding misbehaviour and harassment, the incident was inquired into and villagers have confirmed that there are no complaints against the Army," he said.

Responding to a question on discontinuation of AFSPA, he said, "At present, there is no proposal under consideration to discontinue the AFSPA in the area of Tirap, Changlang and Longding areas of Arunachal Pradesh.