The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), under which a location is declared as a disturbed area to do operations of the armed forces, will now be applicable entirely in 31 districts of 4 states in the Northeast, i.e. Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Thursday.

The move came after the advice of a high-level committee formed to investigate the option of removing the law after the killing of 14 civilians by the army in Nagaland’s Mon district in December last year due to mistaken identity. The AFSPA allows security forces to execute operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant besides giving exemption from arrest and prosecution to the security forces if they shoot someone dead.

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In two separate notifications, the Union Home Ministry announced nine districts in Nagaland and the areas under the jurisdiction of police stations of Khuzama, Kohima North, Kohima South, Zubza and Kezocha in Kohima district, Mangkolemba, Mokokchung-I, Longtho, Tuli, Longchem and Anaki ‘C’ in Mokokchung district, Yanglok in Longleng district and Bhandari, Champang, Ralan and Sungro in Wokha district as ‘disturbed area’ under the AFSPA for six months from 1st April.

Three districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areas under the jurisdiction of Namsai and Mahadevour police stations in the Namsai district were also declared ‘disturbed areas’ under AFSPA for six months from April 1. While for Assam, a notification by the state government said that ‘disturbed area’ under the AFSPA has been entirely withdrawn from 23 districts.