TIL Desk/National/Shillong/ Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that in the past 8 years, there has been a 74 per cent reduction in insurgency incidents in the northeast region, 60 per cent decrease in incidents of attacks on security forces, and 89 per cent decline in civilian deaths, while about 8,000 militants of various outfits have surrendered and joined the mainstream.
Addressing the North East Council (NEC) meeting, he said that earlier there used to be a demand to remove the AFSPA (Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act) from the northeast, but now the demand does not arise, and rather the Centre is taking steps to remove it.
He said that now 60 per cent area of Assam, seven districts of Nagaland, 15 police stations in six districts of Manipur and Tripura and Meghalaya have become completely AFSPA-free, while in only one district of Arunachal Pradesh the AFSPA is yet to be lifted.