Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tasked the state police to examine the mechanism of how to free up Indian Army personnel as the state aims to remove the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) by the end of the year.Chief Minister Sarma was addressing the inaugural day of the two-day Superintendents of Police (SP) conference in Bongaigaon on Friday, where he said, “Assam police must examine how Indian Army personnel can be freed up from the state by completely withdrawing Armed Forced Special Power Act.”The controversial AFSPA allows the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in Disturbed Areas by allowing them to kill any person acting in contravention of the law, as well as carry out searches and arrests without a warrant. The law also gives the Indian Army personnel immunity from prosecution and legal suits without the consent of the Union Government.Aim to withdraw AFSPA from Assam by 2023: CM Himanta Biswa SarmaCM Sarma has made it his governments policy to seek withdrawal of the controversial law from the state, saying earlier in May that he would aim to fulfil that objective by the end of this year.We are aiming at withdrawing AFSPA completely from Assam by the end of 2023. We will also rope in ex-military personnel to train our police force: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma pic.twitter.com/1WXcXwUIss— ANI (@ANI) May 22, 2023In the event, where he released the new logo of the Assam Polices Special Task Force (STF), CM Sarma said, “Insurgency has been largely defeated and Assam and Assam Police is proactively monitoring and neutralising persons who are trying to regroup.“Proactive steps to be taken to prevent Rohingya infiltrators, smugglers and insurgents outside Assam from using the state as a corridor for transit to other states.”The Chief Minister also signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with leading tech companies such as Microsoft, National Cyber Peace Foundation, and India Future Foundation, which would allow collaboration geared towards enhancing the state polices technological policing capabilities, as well as improve Assams cybersecurity measures.
