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.
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 areas where the security forces can operate under the immunity provided by AFSPA in Manipur 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AFSPA was withdrawn from 19 police station areas in the valley region after seeing normalcy.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.
Both Meitei and Kuki armed groups that sprang up after May 2023 call themselves “village defence volunteers”.
