Arunachal Chief Minister Nabam Tuki blasts Centre for declaring districts as 'disturbed'

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the Centre for declaring 12 districts of his state as ' disturbed' under AFSPA without any consultation, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister NabamTuki today said such a move was nothing but attack on the federal structure in the country.

"There was no discussion, no consultation. It was an unilateral decision by the central government to declare 12 districts as disturbed area. All these districts are completely peaceful," he told PTI here.

The Congress leader was reacting to the NDA government's decision to declare all districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam as "disturbed areas" under the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) due to "heightened militant activity" there.

Under the order, which will be in force for a year, security forces will have sweeping powers in all these 12 of 19 districts of the state.

"This is nothing but direct attack on the federal structure of the country," Tuki said.

He said three districts -- Tirap, Changlang and Longding -- have the problems of militancy but rest of the nine districts were completely peaceful.

He rubbished the Centre's contention that six banned militant groups like NDFB, NSCN and ULFA have their presence in some of the areas and they use the state as a safe haven.

"We completely disagree with the Centre's contention. Arunachal Pradesh has been the most peaceful state in the northeastern region with no history of home grown insurgency," he said.

Tuki had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday and urged him to review the decision.

"There are protests in my state. People in Arunachal Pradesh are angry with the decision," he said.

In its notification, the Home Ministry said it has found that the law and order situation in all districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam has continued to be a "matter of concern due to violent incident by underground outfits".