Indian State of Nagaland Passes Resolution Against Armed Forces Act, Seeks Apology

A botched anti-insurgency operation and retaliatory violence resulted in the deaths of 14 civilians on 4-5 December in the Indian state of Nagaland on the easternmost fringes of the country near the border with Myanmar.
Sputnik
India's Nagaland State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Monday, demanding to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in effect in the northeastern part of the country, in particular Nagaland.
AFSPA grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in "disturbed areas". It offers impunity to the security forces operating in an area.
The state has witnessed continuous protests by political parties, social activists, civilians, and representatives of the state's government against the military since 14 civilians were killed by security forces in Nagaland's Mon district earlier this month.
The Nagaland government is led by the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, supported by the federally governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The state assembly's resolution on Monday also called for "an apology from the appropriate authority, along with an assurance that justice will be delivered by applying the laws of the land upon those who perpetrated the inhuman massacre and upon those who are responsible for the incident".
Last week, thousands of people in Nagaland marched, declaring "full non-cooperation" with the Indian Armed Forces and boycotting "all nationwide celebrations" against the recent killings.
The AFSPA is operational in the seven northeastern states that share borders with China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, and in Jammu and Kashmir, where secessionist sentiments are high.
Nagaland has been declared a "disturbed area" by the Home Ministry under the AFSPA.
The Indian government passed a special law called AFSPA and sent forces to the areas to crush the insurgency in 1958. Armed ethnic groups have not yet halted their demand for a sovereign state.
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