New Delhi: Terming the Nagaland firing incident 'an unfortunate one’, Congress MP from Assam Abdul Khalek urged the central government for an immediate withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 (AFSPA). He also called for a fair investigation into the matter.
In an interview with ETV Bharat, the Congress MP said, “It was a very unfortunate incident and I urge for a fair and proper investigation into the matter because it is a matter of serious security lapse on the part of the security forces. I would personally opine that Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 (AFSPA) should be repealed because the government has promised that the law and order situation has improved. If law and order have improved, why not repeal AFSPA?.”
The botched security operations by the army in Mon district of Nagaland that left 14 civilians dead, has once again rekindled the calls for the repeal of a draconian law- Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) 1958 that grants security forces impunity. Khalek said as far as AFSPA or any other laws governing armed forces in the northeast is concerned should be revoked. "Issues should be resolved through dialogue and legislation like AFSPA or others cannot solve security issues," he reiterated.
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Further, MP Khalek termed Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Parliament over the incident as 'baseless', while adding that such a statement by Shah cannot be agreed upon. “Therefore, we want that fair investigation should be carried out immediately and the culprit behind this should be punished”, he added.
On Monday, in statements in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Shah had said, “Based on inputs received by the Indian Army about the movement of the insurgents near Tiru village in Tizit area of Mon district, a team of 21 para-commandos of Indian Army laid an ambush in the evening of 04.12.2021. During the ambush, a vehicle approached the location and it was signalled to stop. However, the vehicle tried to flee, following which the vehicle, suspected of carrying insurgents, was fired upon resulting in the killing of 6 out of 8 persons travelling in the vehicle”.
Khalek further said, “Security forces should be always on alert and responsible. Security forces should be ready for any challenges and fight against enemies But killing our innocent civilians without any reasons is unacceptable and highly condemnable,” he added.
The killings of innocent civilians have triggered violent protests all across the northeast region, demanding repeal of AFSPA. Several student unions, political parties from India’s northeast region have raised their voices, demanding immediate repeal of AFSPA in the region. However, given the public outrage, the Nagaland cabinet has also decided to write to the centre seeking repeal of the Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958. The decision was taken during an emergency meeting of the state cabinet in Kohima on Tuesday.
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Meanwhile, on Wednesday a delegation of Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi and AICC general secretaries Jitendra Singh and Ajoy Kumar, who were on the way to Nagaland at the instruction of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, were stopped at Jorhat airport by the district administration.
They were stopped following an order issued by the Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Barman which said that given the prevailing law and order situation in Mon district and in bordering districts following Saturday’s incident, the movement of civilians and others from the Assam side has been restricted by the Nagaland government.
What is AFSPA?
AFSPA, known as Armed Power Special Power Act, gives special power to the armed forces for the maintenance of public order in a disturbed area. The Act gives power to armed forces to fire upon, use forces against any person who violates the contravention of the law in an area declared as disturbed by the government.
