Tribune News Service

Guwahati, September 3

To avoid any untoward incident in view of the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is currently underway, the Assam Government has decided to extend the term of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) for another six months with effect from September 1.

Reports here suggested that even though there had been no untoward incident in any part of the state following the publication of the final draft of the NRC, the government was not keen on taking any chance till the process was completed. The situation would be reviewed once again before the expiry of this extended term.

The government had considered to withdraw the Act selectively from some of the peaceful areas of the state, but later decided that the Act should remain in place, at least till the process of updating the NRC was completed.

Reports said some fundamentalist organisations had been trying to establish base in the state, as such the government was not willing to take chances. The government also wanted to keep a Unified Command structure in place to deal with any situation while the NRC updating was underway under the supervision of the Supreme Court.