‘Party will attend Sept 3 meet’
SHILLONG: The main Opposition party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), has decided to attend the September 3 all-party meeting convened by the Government to discuss the Inner Line Permit (ILP) even as the party has favoured introduction of ILP in the State.
UDP working president Bindo M Lanong on Sunday said his party will express its views on ILP during the meeting.
Lanong ruled out any division or disagreement within the party regarding attending the meeting on ILP called by the Government.
Earlier, UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh had questioned the need for the proposed meeting, stating that it had no relevance since the Government has already taken a decision against implementation of ILP.
According to Lanong, the NGOs have expressed unanimity on the issue of implementation of ILP and in the present day context it would be a good idea to implement ILP provided that neither tourists nor genuine non indigenous persons are harassed.
“In the present situation where there are frequent incursions not only from the neighbouring country, but also from many distant countries, there is a need to have an effective mechanism to check the trend,” Lanong asserted.
According to the UDP leader, though the party did not mention anything in its manifesto regarding implementation of ILP, the party had a mindset to introduce a ‘special ILP’ which will safeguard the interests of the indigenous people without harming the genuine non indigenous citizens and tourists visiting Meghalaya.
Lanong, who was the Chairman of the High Level Committee on Influx that had proposed implementation of the ILP, said that the ILP had a majority support.
He, however, stated that the views of others, who were in favour of implementation of a three-tier card system, were also forwarded to the Government.