Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 21 Apr: The Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) has decided not to participate in the high-powered committee (HPC) meeting to frame the draft rules for the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA) 1978, citing a lack of response to their two-point demand.
ACF chief adviser Tarh Miri, who is a member of the HPC, claimed that there has been no response to the ACF’s demand for expansion of the HPC and for either repealing or modifying the Act.
The first meeting of the HPC took place on 19 March and on Tuesday, the second meeting was held, when Miri walked off from the meeting after informing the chairman in writing about the decision. “Our long-pending demand for the repeal of the Act cannot be expected from the HPC. Also, the expansion of the HPC to add more members for proportionate representation is the prerogative of the state government. The HPC is not serving any interest of ours and therefore we are walking out in protest,” informed Miri.
The ACF has been opposing the APFRA 1978 and has repeatedly called for its repeal in the past.
Later, addressing the media at the Arunachal Press Clubhere, ACF president Techi James Tara announced that the ACF will organise a statewide protest on 30 April against the alleged attempt to forcibly frame the rules of the APFRA. “We have been demanding the repeal of this Act for the past 50 years. But the state government, by constituting the HPC, is now trying to forcibly impose the APFRA and is in a hurry to frame rules by the end of this month. We protest this forcible imposition,” said Tara.
He also alleged that the HPC is one-sided and does not have proper representation. “The majority of groups that are in favour of the APFRA are in the HPC. There is no proper representation. Due to this, we have decided to boycott the HPC as it serves the interest of certain groups only,” he added.
