AFSPA is removed from parts of Nagaland, Assam, and Manipur

In the wake of the Mon killings last year, the government set up a committee to investigate the demand to remove AFSPA from Nagaland.

It isn't yet clear if the committee has submitted its report, which was due this month.

As the committee deliberated on the issue, the Centre extended the law's imposition by six months in the state last December.

Nagaland's AFSPA was scheduled to expire on December 31, having been last extended on June 30.

The AFSPA can be applied for a period of six months in an area or region, and then it can be extended following that if the government finds it necessary.

To examine the possibility of withdrawing AFSPA in Nagaland, the Centre set up a high-level committee on December 26.

A deadline of three months was set for the committee.

Six coal miners were killed in a botched up operation in Nagaland's Mon district on December 4, prompting the establishment of the committee.

On the heels of the incident, the Nagaland Assembly passed a resolution calling for AFSPA repeal.

Vivek Joshi, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, heads the committee, which is composed of Piyush Goyal, Additional Secretary to the Union Home Ministry, as well as the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Nagaland, and the Director General of Police, Assam Rifles.

A Cabinet sub-committee was formed in 2004 after the Jeevan Reddy Committee appointed by then-President Manmohan Singh recommended the repeal of AFSPA.

However, the Modi government rejected the Reddy committee's recommendations and dissolved the Cabinet subcommittee.

There has been no committee either regarding repeal of AFSPA in its entirety or regarding its removal from any state since then.

As of earlier this year, the Modi government has removed AFSPA from Meghalaya and part of Arunachal Pradesh.

MHA ordered that the AFSPA be removed from Meghalaya completely and from eight police stations in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam in March 2018. The number of police stations decreased to just four a year later. AFSPA is now only available in three districts within Arunachal Pradesh.