Panel to look into withdrawal of AFSPA in Nagaland

• Union government on 26th December instituted a high-level committee chaired by a Secretary-level officer to examine the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland. 
• The committee will submit its report within 45 days.
• Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Vivek Joshi will head the five-member committee and Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Piyush Goyal will be its Member-Secretary.
• The Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Nagaland and the DGP of Assam Rifles will be the other members of the committee.

what is AFSPA?

• The Act in its original form was promulgated by the British in response to the Quit India movement in 1942. 
• After Independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to retain the Act, which was first brought in as an ordnance and then notified as an Act in 1958.
• AFSPA has been imposed on the Northeast states, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab during the militancy years. 
• Punjab was the first state from where it was repealed, followed by Tripura and Meghalaya. 
• It remains in force in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, J&K, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
• AFSPA provides for special powers for the armed forces that can be imposed by the Centre or the Governor of a state, on the state or parts of it, after it is declared “disturbed’’ under Section 3. 
• The Act defines these as areas that are “disturbed or dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary’’. AFSPA has been used in areas where militancy has been prevalent.
• The Act, which has been called draconian, gives sweeping powers to the armed forces. It allows them to open fire’, even causing death, against any person in contravention to the law or carrying arms and ammunition. 
• It gives them powers to arrest individuals without warrants, on the basis of “reasonable suspicion”, and also search premises without warrants.

What attempts have been made to repeal AFSPA in the past?

• In 2000, Manipur activist Irom Sharmila began a hunger-strike, which would continue for 16 years, against AFSPA. 
• In 2004, the UPA government set up a five-member committee under a former Supreme Court Judge. 
• The Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission submitted its report in 2005, saying AFSPA had become a symbol of oppression and recommending its repeal. 
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Veeerapa Moily, endorsed these recommendations.

Source - Indian Express