Armed Forces Special Powers Act has enabled impunity and arbitrary killings across the country, including in Kashmir In the hills of India’s northeast and across the valleys of Kashmir, generations have grown up under a law that grants soldiers the authority to arrest without warrant, search homes by force, and open fire on civilians under extraordinary circumstances. Entire communities have lived with checkpoints, patrols, raids, curfews, and the knowledge that military personnel operating in their towns are shielded by one of the most controversial legal protections in India. For decades, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, better known as AFSPA, has occupied a volatile space in India’s social fabric and successive governments have defended it as a security necessity. Human rights groups have called it a license for abuse and families of the disappeared have described it as a system that is designed to prevent justice. Former officials, commissions of inquiry, and international organizations have repeatedly urged its repeal or overhaul. But much of that has fallen on deaf ears in New Delhi regardless of who is at the helm.
Published: May 17, 2026 5:59 am
Source: The Express Tribune — Read original