The Army was entrusted with the task of securing peace against insurgents with bases across the international border in Myanmar.
The AFSPA provides legal protection to the Army, which had to operate in a war-like situation against well-armed and well-trained guerrilla outfits in hostile terrain.
Why was the panel formed?
14 civilians were gunned down by security forces at Oting village of Mon district in a botched anti-insurgency operation.
Earlier, the Nagaland assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution demanding that the Centre repeal AFSPA from the northeast and specially from the state
In a meeting headed by Home Minister the Union government has instituted a high-level committee to examine the possibility of withdrawing AFSPA in Nagaland.
The committee will submit its report within 45 days.
Is the move a step in the right direction?
The 1997 ceasefire was signed between the government and the NSCN-IM. This resulted in a conversation towards ending the insurgency.
The 2015 Framework Agreement signed raised hopes of a resolution, including on the question of Naga sovereignty.
However the recent gun down threatens to halt the progress on Naga talks and endanger the gains of the past two decades.
The AFSPA panel needs to keep in mind the groundswell for peace in Nagaland, a result of the extraordinary work put in by civil society groups such as the Naga Mothers Association.
It can take recourse to studying precedents like withdrawal of AFSPA from Tripura, Meghalaya, districts in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in response to a decline in violence.
Naga insurgency is a more complex phenomenon. However a new generation, more invested in peace and prosperity, has come of age in Nagaland.
Their future needs to be guarded from the vicious cycle of violence that has laid previous generations to waste
Therefore present move is a step in the right direction. Centre must build on it.
