Amid clamour for withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Kashmir, a UN Special Rapporteur on Friday urged India to repeal the controversial law that gives its military special powers to act in troubled areas.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
A caravan comprising about 20-22 people will cover 10 states to extend support to Irom Sharmila's protest against Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. K Anurag reports.
Armed Forces (special Powers) Act should not be revoked until the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir is stopped and the state police machinery is able to handle the normal law and order situation. R S Chauhan reports.
The proposal to remove the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in some parts Kashmir is a ploy by anti-India forces to show that they are still relevant, says Tarun Vijay.
Amidst controversy over the issue of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said that the final decision on it would be taken by the Unified Command Headquarters in the state.
The present happenings in Manipur are the wages of continued neglect, and not so benign at that, of a vital region and its people. Had we lavished on the North East even a fraction of the care and resources we do on Kashmir, things would not have come to this pass, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
AFSPA confers special powers on the armed forces in areas deemed as disturbed.
The ceasefire along Indo-Pak border is working 'well' since February 2021 agreement, he asserted.
The shrill politically-driven rhetoric demanding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act be repealed, if allowed to hold sway, may drive us deeper into the dark world of both Islamist terror and the Maoist insurgency, warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
The army said on Friday it has completed the Summary of Evidence against two of its men involved in July's Amshipura encounter in Shopian district.
National People's Party, a partner in the existing government which won seven seats in the just concluded state poll, will not be a part of the new dispensation, Singh told reporters at his residence.
The Centre supported the pleas before a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit against the lodging of FIRs against members of the armed forces in AFSPA-enforced areas.
The North East is a sizeable success story for the Modi government politically and for the BJP electorally. It will be an unpleasant surprise if they choose to blow it, bowing to their basic, polarising instinct at any point, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Security bunkers manned by the central armed paramilitary forces are being set up in many areas of Srinagar where these were removed between 2011 and 2014 following the overall improvement in the security situation across Kashmir.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said the people of his state, including himself, want the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but only after mutual understanding with the Centre as national security is their top priority.
It was a simple function and the families of the bride and groom were absent.
The team also visited Tizit Police Station to meet the cross section of the society including civilians, police personnel and doctors who treated the injured for obtaining valuable information, he said.
The home minister said the northeast and the Left-wing extremism-affected areas in the country are tribal-dominated regions and security is a precursor to development there.
Discussions and deliberations need to be held on the purpose of imposing AFSPA and how to revoke it, Rio said during the public funeral of the 14 daily wage earners of a coal mine, who were shot dead by security forces on Saturday at Oting village on their way home from work.
The Army has initiated general court martial proceedings against a captain for the killing of three men in a staged encounter in Amshipura in south Kashmir in July 2020 after a Court of Inquiry found that troops had 'exceeded' powers vested under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, officials said in Srinagar on Sunday.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, was completely withdrawn in Meghalaya in 2018, Tripura in 2015 and Mizoram in the 1980s.
'The Arunachal border is not demarcated in that way, so there can be differing perceptions (between two sides)'
Investigation has revealed that the Special Force Operation team had not followed the Standard Operating Procedure and the Rules of Engagement
"Border skirmishes have been rising and people are dying... A way has to be found to deal with this. Except for talks... As you are talking to China to attempt that it withdraws (from Ladakh border), we should also talk to our (other) neighbour to find a way to get out of this situation," he said in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour amid protests from treasury benches.
The AFSPA will continue to remain in force in 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh for six more months.
Mufti said relation of J&K with India will end if the terms and conditions of the state's accession to the Union were changed.
Sharmila filed her nomination on behalf of People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said efforts are on to remove AFSPA completely from the northeast region.
Sharmila, who contested from Thoubal constituency against Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh was relegated to the fourth position.
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Wednesday described as 'highly regrettable' the December 4 firing incident in Nagaland's Mon district in which 14 civilians were killed and said 'appropriate action,' as required to uphold the law of the land, would be taken based on the investigation.
From filling vacancies in government jobs to providing a minimum support income of Rs 72,000 per year for the poor families, the party went all out to woo the voters.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah on Wednesday said no peace talks were possible 'under the shadow' of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and termed Union home minister Amit Shah's statement in Parliament on the botched counter-insurgency operation as 'irresponsible.'
The inquiry will focus on the "intelligence" and the "circumstances" on which Saturday's operation was based on.
Activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, who was on Monday charged with attempting suicide for her fast unto death here in 2006 while demanding repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, said she is following Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence and should not be "discriminated" against.
'We shouldn't allow it to become a rallying point for others in the region against the army.'
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said he would raise the issues of partial revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during the next internal security meeting in Delhi.
The SIT has been constituted and has been directed to complete the probe within a month, Shah said.
'She feels that undertaking the fast is what she is meant to do in life. She believes deeply that that's her purpose, and that's what God wants her to do,' says Deepti Priya Mehrotra, the author of Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur.
Amid renewed demands for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, National Conference's alliance partner Congress on Wednesday said the time was not right for it and rejected the contention that the central government was being blackmailed by army on this.
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