India, Feb. 20 -- Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Thursday responded to concerns around the government drawing up rules to enforce the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), underlining that the rules were not intended to target any religious community but safeguard the indigenous culture and beliefs of the people.

The chief minister also pointed to the Gauhati high court's verdict in September last year that directed the state government to finalise the rules within six months. The high court order came on a petition that sought implementation of the anti-conversion law enacted by the state assembly in 1978. The law was never implemented in the absence of the rules for more than four decades.

"The Act remain...