NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order on Thursday re-imposing Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the jurisdiction of six police stations in Manipur’s valley areas, nearly 19 months into the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state and declared them ‘disturbed areas’.In the notification, a copy of which is with this newspaper, the MHA said, the ‘Disturbed Areas’ status – which was in place all across Manipur except 19 police stations in the state’s Meitei-dominated valley areas – has now been extended to the jurisdictions of Sekmai and Lamsang police stations in Imphal West, Lamlai in Imphal East, Moirang in Bishnupur, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi, and Jiribam police station.It is to be noted here that AFSPA, among other things, empowers an officer of the armed forces to “fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order” if they believe that it is necessary and at the same time it protects an officer from prosecution if the person acts under the Act except with the sanction of the Central Government.In the notification, the MHA said that a review of the situation in Manipur found that the situation continues to be “volatile” and “intermittent firing in violence-prone areas continues in the fringe areas of Bishnupur-Churachandpur, Imphal East-Kangpokpi-Imphal West and Jiribam districts”. It also stated that in many of these incidents, there have been instances of the “active participation of insurgent groups in heinous acts of violence”.It also said the imposition of the ‘Disturbed Areas’ status in these six areas was found warranted to “carry out well-coordinated operations by the security forces to maintain the security situation and contain the activities of insurgent groups in these areas”.Manipur has had the ‘Disturbed Area’ status under the AFSPA since 1980, and it was only withdrawn from some parts of Imphal in 2004 following strong protests after the killing of 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama earlier that year.Since 2022, the areas notified as ‘Disturbed Areas’ had been incrementally reduced, and effective April 1, 2023, it had been withdrawn from the jurisdiction of 19 police stations, all located in the state’s Meitei-dominated valley.
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