The controversial armed forces special powers act was removed partially after 32 years from three of nine districts of Arunachal Pradesh but would remain in force in the areas bordering Myanmar.

Arunachal Pradesh had inherited the controversial AFSPA enacted by Parliament in 1958 and applied to the entire State of Assam and the Union Territory of Manipur.

After AP, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland came into being, the Act was appropriately adapted to apply to these states as well.

According to PTI the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a notification that the four police station areas in Arunachal Pradesh, which were declared “disturbed areas” under the AFSPA, are no longer under the purview of the special law from Sunday.

The police station areas from where the AFSPA has been withdrawn are Balemu and Bhalukpong police stations in West Kameng district, Seijosa police station in East Kameng district and Balijan police station in Papumpare district.However, according to the notification, the AFSPA will continue to be enforced in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and areas under the jurisdiction of Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Namsai district, Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district and Sunpura in Lohit district for six more months till September 30.

A Home Ministry official said the “disturbed area” tag was withdrawn from the four police station areas due to the improvement of law and order situation there and it will continue in other areas in view of continuing activities of banned insurgent groups of the Northeast.

The notification said the Union Home Ministry took the decision exercising its powers conferred under section 3 of the  Armed forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. A review of the law and order situation in Arunachal Pradesh’s six districts was undertaken before the March 31 deadline for the validity of the “disturbed area” designation under the AFSPA. In March last year, the AFSPA was removed completely from Meghalaya following improvement in security situation.

For the AFSPA to become valid, an area, however, needs to be declared disturbed either by the Central or the state government under the section 3 of the 1958 Act. Some parts of Arunachal Pradesh has the presence of banned militant outfits such as NSCN, ULFA and NDFB, another official said.

Srinagar: National Conference chief spokesperson Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP and it’s ‘proxies’ in Kashmir.

The former MLA was responding to BJP leader Ram Madhav’s comments who had said “We are of the opinion that Shia Muslims should be given reservation,”

According to media reports BJP has reconfigured its strategy for J&K by shifting its focus to Shia Muslims in a bid to make up for the party’s abysmal presence in the Valley.

Mehdi while taking to his Twitter handle said,”We (Muslims) are of the opinion that #BJPRSS should be wiped out of Kashmir. And be sure we will. Those proxies(individuals)who are selling you these dreams are not only fooling you,but fooling themselves. Make no mistake,you and your proxies will get to know their actual place.”

The Shia leader further said his politics does not revolve around motorcades or glamour, “Haha! The best they could do in reaction to this is to withdraw my security. @BJP4India you think these silly things will change my mind towards you? I don’t do my politics for motorcades or glamour etc. The people you can buy are bully are already with you as your proxies.” He tweeted.

His tweets however did not go too well as he was accused of having extremist views.

Among those who objected Mehdi’s views was Journalist Tina Sharam,”Imagine if some other State Cabinet Minister (current or former) openly said “We Hindus are of the opinion that XYZ party should be wiped out”? Is this kind of religious jingoism not communal? Is criticism reserved only for some? Kashmir does not belong to a religion Mr Mehdi.” She replied to Mehdi’s tweets.

In his response Mehdi said he was just responding to Ram Madhav’s attempts to divide Muslims in Kashmir, “Use of the word “Muslims” in my tweet was in response to Ram Madhavs attempt to divide Muslims in Kashmir on Shia-Sunni basis. I understand, you cannot comprehend that.” Mehdi tweeted.

Chandigarh, Apr 2, : As a paragon of developing a humanistic society, GNM and ANM students of Aryans Institute of Nursing, Rajpura, Near Chandigarh visited an old age home- Kartar Aasra Trust at Chandigarh. Later the students also visited Verka Milk Plant in Industrial Area, Chandigarh.

   Mr Kartar of the old-age home welcomed the students and enlightened them about various problems being faced by the elderly because of the weakened socio-cultural fabric. They learned about geriatric age conditions, disease conditions etc of old age.

    Kartar spoke about the proliferation of issues pertaining to the age, which were often overlooked. The students pledged to work for educating society about the problems and needs of senior citizens.

In Verka milk plant students learned about ice stock and the process of making ice creams. Rohit, Verka Plant guided the students about manufacturing process and methods being adopted in the plant for better yield.