Imphal/New Delhi:

The Centre has reimposed a law to protect security forces in hostile areas in several new locations in ethnic violence-hit Manipur. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been reimposed in six police station areas including Jiribam, where 10 suspected Kuki militants were shot dead in an encounter with the security forces on Monday, and from where three women and three children of the Meitei community were kidnapped by suspected insurgents.

The AFSPA gives sweeping powers to the military to operate freely anywhere that has been declared a “disturbed area”; no military personnel in an area where AFSPA is in force can be prosecuted without the Centre’s permission.

The AFSPA reimposition will allow the security forces to freely engage armed groups that have not signed any ceasefire deal with the government.

Before this, 19 police station areas in Manipur were not under AFSPA coverage as they were considered peaceful. The recent escalation in violence, however, has brought the controversial law back to at least six police station areas.

The six new areas where the security forces can operate under the immunity provided by AFSPA are Sekmai and Lamsang in Imphal West district, Lamlai in Imphal East district, Jiribam in Jiribam district, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi, and Moirang in Bishnupur.

AFSPA was withdrawn from the 19 police station areas in the valley region after seeing normalcy. The Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence that broke out in May 2023, however, led to many young people taking up arms. Meitei insurgent groups that had been active only in Myanmar after being pushed out of India have allegedly returned to the valley in large numbers.

The Kuki-Zo tribes also have nearly 24 insurgent groups that have signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state government, called the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement. The agreement says the insurgents are to stay in designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly.

However, the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, too, have been accused of training young people and supplying weapons to fight Meitei groups, especially the armed group Arambai Tenggol.

AFPSA has been in force in all the hill areas of Manipur.

Both Meitei and Kuki armed groups that sprang up after May 2023 call themselves “village defence volunteers”.

The SoO agreement lapsed in February and it has not been extended yet. The fate of the agreement is not publicly known. The Kuki tribes have been demanding the reimposition of AFSPA in the valley areas, citing a large number of Meitei armed groups operating under the name of “village defence volunteers”.

The only time any authority in Manipur admitted to the involvement of insurgent groups of both the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes was on September 9, after five bodies were found following a fierce gunfight.

Three of the bodies were confirmed as Kuki insurgents from Churachandpur district; the fourth was identified as a Kuki volunteer from Jiribam; the fifth was identified as a member of the Meitei insurgent group United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P), the police had said in a statement.

The three Kuki insurgents were members of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), a signatory of the SoO agreement. The UNLF(P), too, had signed a ceasefire deal with the Centre and the state government. The UNLF is the oldest Meitei insurgent group, which later broke up into two factions; the Pambei faction signed a tripartite peace agreement with the Centre and the state government in November 2023.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

New Delhi:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the central government will consider revoking the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu and Kashmir.

In an interview with the JK Media Group, Mr Shah also said the government has plans to pull back troops in the Union Territory (UT) and leave law and order to the Jammu and Kashmir Police alone.

“We have plans to pull back troops and leave law and order to the Jammu and Kashmir Police alone. Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir police was not trusted but today they are leading the operations,” he said.

On the controversial AFSPA, the home minister said, “We will also think of revoking AFSPA.”

The AFSPA gives the armed forces personnel, operating in the disturbed areas, sweeping powers to search, arrest and to open fire if they deem it necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.

An area or district is notified as disturbed under the AFSPA to facilitate the operations of the armed forces.

Mr Shah had earlier said the AFSPA has been removed in 70 per cent areas in the northeastern states even though it is in force in J-K.

There have been demands from various organisations and individuals in J-K and the northeastern states to revoke the AFSPA.

Mr Shah said the assembly elections will be held in J-K before September.

“Enshrining democracy in Jammu and Kashmir is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise and it will be fulfilled. However, this democracy will not be confined to three families alone and will be a people’s democracy,” he said.

The Supreme Court had directed to conduct the assembly polls in the UT before September.

On the issues that have emerged around the reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs, Mr Shah said for the first time, the OBCs of J-K have been given reservation by the Modi government and women have been given one-third reservation.

“OBC reservations have been made in the panchayat and the urban local bodies. We have made space for the SCs and the STs. Without reducing the share of the Gujjar and Bakarwals, the Pahadis have been given 10 per cent reservation. And special provisions have been made to accommodate the displaced people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” he said.

The Centre is determined to ensure that these benefits percolate to the grassroots level, he said.

Mr Shah claimed that National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tried their best to create acrimony on these reservations but the people have understood their intentions now.

He asked why the NC did not give reservation to these people in the last over 75 years.

The home minister claimed Abdullah had left for England when terrorism was at its peak. Both Abdullah and Mehbooba have no right to speak about on the issue, he added.

“The number of fake encounters that took place during their time has never been matched by any other regime,” he said.

Mr Shah said in the last five years, not a single fake encounter has taken place. Rather the FIRs have been lodged against the people involved in fake encounters, he added.

“We will have a dialogue with the youths of Kashmir and not with the organisations that have roots in Pakistan. They are responsible for the deaths of 40,000 youths,” he said.

He said the Modi government has banned 12 organisations for their involvement in terror activities, designated 36 individuals as terrorists, registered more than 22 cases to stop terror finance and seized properties worth Rs 150 crore.

As many as 90 properties were also attached and 134 bank accounts have been frozen, he said.

“We have enshrined peace, and peace cannot be bought. Whoever wants to have a dialogue has to do so within the ambit of the Constitution,” he said.

Mr Shah said the Hurriyat Conference has no place in the process of dialogue. He also made it clear that the BJP and the entire Parliament believe that the POK is an integral part of India.

“The Muslim brothers are also Indians and the Hindu brothers living in POK are also Indians and the land which has been illegally occupied by Pakistan also belongs to India. It is the goal of every Indian, every Kashmiri to get it back,” he said.

The home minister said in 2010, there were 2564 incidents of stone-pelting which now is zero.

From 2004 to 2014, there were 7217 terror incidents. That has reduced to 2227 from 2014 to 2023, and this is almost a 70 per cent reduction, he said.

Mr Shah said the total number of deaths from 2004 to 2014 was 2829 and it has come down to 915 during 2014-23, which is a 68 per cent decrease.

The deaths of civilians was 1770 and has decreased to 341, which is an 81 per cent drop. The deaths of security forces decreased from 1060 to 574, which is a 46 per cent decrease, he said.

The senior BJP leader said without the support of the people, such a comprehensive change can never take place.

“The people who talk about Islam should know that 85 per cent of the deceased were our Muslim brothers and sisters,” he said.

Mr Shah also asked the youths of J-K to stay away from the conspiracies of Pakistan.

“Today Pakistan is shrouded by the scourge of hunger and poverty and even people there see Kashmir as heaven. I want to tell everyone that if anyone can save Kashmir, he is Prime Minister Modi,” he said.

The home minister said the Modi government is boosting the morale of the security forces by giving jobs to the family members of the martyrs.

“Today, not a single martyr’s family is left without a job,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)