National People’s Party (NPP) MP Agatha Sangma demanded repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the Lok Sabha on Friday, citing the example of the incident in Mon, in Nagaland, where 14 people died due to firing by the Army on a vehicle carrying miners.
Speaking during the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to both Houses of Parliament, Ms. Sangma repeated the demand she had raised during the Winter Session of Parliament last year.
Characterising herself as “representing the North-East states in general” she said : “I would request AFSPA be repealed in connection with North East”.
“There was an incident that happened in Nagaland in December last year where a lot of innocent lives were lost and it was most unfortunate,” she said. In her speech during the winter session, she had referred to AFSPA as the “elephant in the room” that needed to be address.
She also demanded that Garo and Khasi languages be included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution. “Since this is 50 years of our statehood, it will be very symbolic and historic if the Central government accepts the long-pending demand for including the Garo and Khasi languages in the eighth schedule of the Constitution,” she said.
She reiterated her demand that the government give up plans to increase the production of palm oil by encouraging, especially in the North East, the growing of oil palm. “The North East has 23% of India’s forest cover, and it can act as a carbon sink for India, instead of becoming a hub for oil palm,” she said asking the government to rethink the plan.
