Arunachal CM flays Centre for declaring dists ‘disturbed’

Hitting out at the Centre for declaring 12 districts of his state as ‘disturbed’ under AFSPA without any consultation, Arunachal Pradesh CM Nabam Tuki on Sunday said such a move was nothing but attack on the federal structure in the country.

“There was no discussion, no consultation. It was a unilateral decision by the Central government to declare 12 districts as disturbed area. All these districts are completely peaceful,” he said.

The Congress leader was reacting to the NDA government’s decision to declare all districts of Arunachal, bordering Assam, as “disturbed areas” under the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) due to “heightened militant activity” there. 

Under the order, which will be in force for a year, security forces will have sweeping powers in 12 of 19 districts of the state.

“This is nothing but direct attack on the federal structure of the country,” Tuki said. He said three districts – Tirap, Changlang and Longding – have the problems of militancy but rest of the nine districts were completely peaceful.