‘Convey ILP demand to Centre’
SHILLONG: The ten pro-ILP organisation, who have been in agitation mode for the past two-and-half months, have urged President Pranab Mukherjee to convey their message to the Union Government on the need of introducing Inner Line Permit in the State.
In an open letter addressed to the President on the eve of his two-day visit to the State, the ten pro-ILP groups said, “Concerned over the large scale influx and migration the ten NGOs since the past one year have been demanding the implementation of the Inner line Permit Regulation in our State.”
The letter reminded the President that it was the State Government under the leadership of the incumbent Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma which had constituted the High Level Committee on Influx to find out ways and means to address the issue of Influx.
“Apart from a few dissenting voices who favored the implementation the Three-Tier Identity Card system, the majority including the former Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M Lanong favoured the implementation of the Inner line Permit,” the letter said.
The NGOs complained that the present government set aside the recommendation of the HLC on the ground that it was a ‘ploy’ of the political parties, and added that the ten NGOs have no political strings attached and have been making this demand purely on the ground that the ILP is the only mechanism to protect the interest and demography of the indigenous minority of the State.
While quoting a report of the then Governor of Assam Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha, submitted to the then President of India KR Narayanan in 1998, the NGOs pointed out that the report clearly stated that “large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh over several decades has been altering the demographic complexion of this State (Assam) and it poses a grave threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and to the national security”.
The NGOs said that as per reports, in 1951-61 the Muslims population in Assam was 38.35 per cent whereas in 1971-1991 it increased to 77.42 per cent compared to the Hindu population of 33.71 per cent and 41.89 per cent respectively.
The NGOs, while drawing the attention of the President to the figures in Assam, stated that there is a connection between the Assam scenario and Meghalaya because of the long and porous border shared by the two states.
According to the NGOs, if there is a high growth of the population of Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam, then Meghalaya, being the immediate neighbour, will have to bear the brunt of illegal influx and migration.
The letter also mentioned that on several occasions the NGOs had detected migrants with no documents to prove their Indian citizenship, but in the absence of laws to deal with such people, these people had to be released.
The NGOs pointed out that a locality in the heart of the city has been named as Bangladesh Colony and also recalled an incident where a Pakistani flag was hoisted in Garo Hills during a cricket match between India and Pakistan.
The NGOs said that the issue of influx and migration is one agenda which has been fuelling many agitations and giving rise to militancy in the Northeast.
In the letter, the NGOs demanded that Meghalaya should be exempted from the ambit of the Indo-Nepal Treaty. “The State Government can invoke the Inner Line Regulation of 1873 in the State with modifications since Section 2 and 4 of the Regulation allows the present Government to legislate as per the requirement of the contemporary times,” the letter stated.
“If other States like Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh can have such law then why is Meghalaya being denied the same?” the NGOS questioned.
Meanwhile, the CSWO President Agnes Kharshiing has also sent an open letter to the President urging him to seek details on why the State Government was tampering with the land laws and under which article of the Constitution was it justifying that the amendment of the land laws do not require Presidential consent.
She also said that people’s voices and their concerns over land and influx are ignored by the Government and the NGOs are hunted by the police, who are now acting as instruments of the corrupt Government, failing to act on serious allegations of crimes and corruption reported by NGOs. Kharshiing also urged the President to check the Scheduled Tribe certificate of Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma and to give in writing that it the certificate has been issued under the Scheduled Tribe Order 1950, duly signed by a competent authority.