In an unprecedented and unparalleled countermove Meghalaya Chief
Minister Mukul Sangma has impaled the activists of the Inner Line Permit
(ILP) with the setting up of a special court to try them and force them
to pay for destroyed properties. It will have a direct impact on
Manipur where several civil organisations have also been clamouring for
the re-implementation of the ILP system.
The Meghalaya government is going to set up a special court to try those
who are sponsoring blockades in flagrant violation of the Supreme Court
orders against all kinds of blockades. What is more, the movers and
shakers of the ILP in Meghalaya will be forced to pay financial solatium
for the private and public properties destroyed during the protracted
agitations. Government sources said that private and public properties
worth over Rs 40 crore had been destroyed during the ongoing agitations
and the activists of student and civil organisations spearheading the
agitations will be liable to pay the money.
However, the organisations are tight lipped on the drastic actiontaken
up by the government. But indications are that the ILP movement may
fizzle out since the state government has taken an uncompromising stand.
In Manipur too, the civil organisations have been demanding the
re-implementation of the ILP in the state. The Bengal Eastern Frontier
Regulation, 1873 which was another nomenclature of the ILP as lifted
from Manipur on November 18, 1950.
The Manipur government underpinned by a cabinet decision taken on July
12, 2012 and unanimous Assembly resolution taken on July 13, 2012 for
the reimplementation of the ILP in the state had written a letter to the
Union government on August 3, 2012 requesting to do accordingly. So far
there is no official response from the Union government. However the
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was reported to have expressed
his view that the ILP cannot be enforced in Manipur now. But the
activists failed to comprehend it since the ILP system has been in
Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland all these years.
The ILP campaign in Manipur was slowed down in the wake of the killings
of migrant workers, the latest being the massacre of nine workers in
Imphal in September. There has been no claim from any militant outfit.
It became apparent that police may try to drag the activists in the plot
to create terror among the migrant workers in the state. Mr. Sangma
says his government has firmed up not to enforce the ILP in Meghalaya
and this uncompromising stand rendered all talks with the activists
infructuous. He further said that the ILP is no cast iron safety for the
indigenous peoples and the migrant workers continue to come and settle
in those states where this system is in force. Quoting census reports he
said that the population of the indigenous peoples in Arunachal Pradesh
had fallen from 79.02 per cent to 68 per cent from 1971 to 2011.
Likewise the population of the indigenous peoples in Nagaland had fallen
from 88.6 per cent to 68 per cent during this period.
However the students and youth activists in Meghalaya launched various
forms of agitations including night blockade and curfew along the state
and national highways. It was a crippling economic blow to Meghalaya and
the NE states since movements of trucks and other vehicles were
paralysed. Officials feel that once the special court comes up and
starts functioning the organisations sponsoring these agitations will be
marginalised and bottled up.
From the very beginning the Union government has been planning to do
away with the ILP in the NE region. It is felt that in the name of
isolating and rounding up foreigners genuine Indians are harassed. On
the other hand, the civil organisations say that this is a ploy to swamp
the indigenous peoples with people from India and abroad. The
increasing population of foreigners from Bangladesh and Myanmar in this
sensitive region is no secret. The then Union Home Minister S.B. Chavan
had convened a meeting of the Chief Ministers of NE region on July 19,
1994 to discuss the abolition of the ILP system from the NE states.
Nagaland objected saying that it is against the letter and spirit of the
16 point agreement signed between the Naga elders and the Union
government.
Mizoram summoned a special session of the Assembly to take a resolution
saying that the ILP shall continue in the state. Meanwhile the activists
in Meghalaya and Manipur charge the centre with double standard and
discrimination since the ILP is in force in three NE states. There are
daring the central leaders to give an acceptable explanation for the
discrimination.