The Centre has withdrawn the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). For those who are not aware of the act, AFSPA gives special powers to the armed forces to deal with the disturbed areas of north east India. The law has been in force at Meghalaya for more than 27 years! Human rights activists have been claiming that, army has been misusing this law. There were several incidents where Army was allegedly involved in cases such as rape and murder under the pretext of AFSPA. Now that the centre is satisfied that the insurgency problems were drastically reduced in the state, it has decided to cancel the act.