The Centre on Thursday reimposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in five valley districts in Manipur in response to an escalation in violence.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, gives Army personnel sweeping powers in disturbed areas to search, arrest and open fire if deemed necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.

In a notification on Thursday, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the decision to impose the Act, which was reimposed on six police stations in these districts, was taken as the situation in Manipur remained “volatile” amid ethnic clashes between the state’s Kuki-Zo-Hmar and Meitei communities.

The last time the law was in effect in these areas was in April, 2022.

The ministry said that “intermittent firing” continued in the “fringe areas of Bishnupur-Churachandpur, Imphal East-Kangpokpi-Imphal West and Jiribam districts”. There were also instances of “active participation of insurgent groups in heinous acts of violence” in many of these incidents, it added.

At least 237 persons have died and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the clashes broke out between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hmars in May 2023. There has been an uptick in violence in the past week, with 14 persons having been killed since November 7.

Kuki-Zo leaders and groups have been demanding the reimposition of AFSPA in the valley area of Manipur.

On Thursday, AFSPA was reimposed in six police stations – Sekmai and Lamsang in Imphal West district, Lamlai in Imphal East district, Jiribam in Jiribam district, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi district and Moirang in Bishnupur district.

The notification on Thursday came after the state police said that 10 suspected Kuki militants were killed on Monday in a gunfight with security forces in Jiribam district.

Ten Meiteis were believed to have gone missing after the gunfight. The bodies of two elderly men were later found on Tuesday, while two others were found alive.

Three women and three children, including an infant, are still missing from Jiribam.

Kuki-Zo-Hmar organisations have claimed that the individuals killed in the gunfight on Monday were village volunteers. The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since the ethnic clashes broke out between the two communities in May 2023.

Since 1980, Manipur has been declared a disturbed area under AFSPA. The designation was withdrawn from certain parts of Imphal in 2004 due to protests after the killing of 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama earlier that year.

In 2022, the Centre announced that the scope of the Act would be rolled back in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. For decades, the law has been a political flashpoint in the region, reportedly facilitating human rights violations by security forces.

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