Manipur MP demands withdrawal of AFSPA

Manipur MP Lorho S Pfoze urged that AFSPA should be repealed from Manipur as well. The demand for withdrawal of controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from all parts of Northeast received a major boost when a lawmaker from Manipur supported the same. Recently, the security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the northeast said that AFSPA should be continued in Assam for next year.

New Delhi: The demand for withdrawal of controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from all parts of Northeast on Wednesday received a major boost when a lawmaker from Manipur supported the same.

"AFSPA should be repealed from Manipur as well. In the name of AFSPA, the armed forces are found involved in using excess power on the civilians," said MP from Manipur Lorho S Pfoze.

Pfoze who represents Nagaland People's Front (NPF) said that even the senior officers of the armed forces were sometimes not able to control their jawans.

"For a sense of lasting peace, we should involve all the insurgent groups in talks," he said.

Recently, the security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the northeast said that AFSPA should be continued in Assam for next year.

AFSPA which empowers armed forces to enter any premises or arrest any person without a warrant was imposed first in Nagaland in the early '60s. Later on, it was imposed in all other northeastern states.

AFSPA has been withdrawn from Tripura and Meghalaya and partially from Arunachal Pradesh. Demand for its withdrawal was widespread in Nagaland. In Manipur, AFSPA is in force, except in seven Assembly constituencies of Imphal.

Read: SC to hear PIL on AES outbreak on Monday