October 3, 2020: The Centre has declared three districts and four police stations in three other districts in Arunachal Pradesh as “disturbed area” under the AFSPA for six more months after review of insurgent activities and the law and order situation there.

The Union Home Ministry said in a notification that the order came into effect from October 1.

“...Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areas falling within the jurisdiction of the following four police stations in other districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the state of Assam are declared as ‘disturbed area’ under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, up to 31.03.2021 wef 01.10.2020, unless withdrawn earlier,” the notification said.

The four police stations are Namsai and Mahadevpur in Namsai district, Roing in Lower Dibang Valley and Sunpura in Lohit district.

The AFSPA is imposed in areas where armed forces are required to operate in aid to civil authorities. For AFSPA to become valid, an area, however, needs to be declared disturbed either by the central or the state governments under section 3 of the 1958 Act.

Some parts of Arunachal Pradesh have presence of banned militant outfits like NSCN, ULFA and NDFB, an official said.