New Delhi, April 23: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday confirmed the revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA from the northeastern state of Meghalaya. The law, which gives sweeping powers to the armed forces in 'disturbed' areas, has also been diluted in the neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.

In Arunachal, AFSPA would be restricted only to 16  police stations. Meanwhile, in Meghalaya, the entire 20-km border with Assam, where the act was imposed, will now be governed under the civilian laws.

Meghalaya becomes the third state in the North East, after Mizoram and Tripura where the AFSPA has been revoked.

“AFSPA was totally withdrawn from all areas of Meghalaya from April 1. In Arunachal, it is down from 16 police stations to eight,” a senior MHA official was reported as saying.

The law, after being revoked from Assam and Manipur earlier, was reimposed in some parts considering the threat posed by insurgent elements. The respective state governments have, however, been granted the permission to impose or revoke the act as per their requirement.

The only region where AFSPA has been imposed rigorously across the state is Nagaland, where the cadres of NSCN (Khaplang faction) have refrained from signing the ceasefire agreement with the Indian government.

AFSPA, a controversial law which allows the security personnel to shoot down terror suspects without facing penal backlash, has been periodically imposed in frontier states on the north and northeastern peripheries. The law has seen resentment from a massive section of civil society in Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 05:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).