Imphal: The Congress-led Manipur government has called an all-party meeting to discuss the increasing agitation by various social organisations demanding implementation of inner line permit system (ILP) in the state, official sources said on Monday.
The decision to call the meeting “immediately” was taken last evening at a high-level meet chaired by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and attended by senior cabinet ministers and senior high officials, including Chief Secretary P C Lawmkunga, sources said.
Official reports said various social organisations under the aegis of Joint Action Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JACILPS) have been organising rallies, sit-in protests and demonstrations in the past few weeks demanding implementation of the ILP system to restrict the entry of non-Manipuris in the state.
A spokesman of the JACILPS said the committee was not against the entry of fellow compatriots and citizens from other parts of the country.
But without the ILP system, the indigenous and original Manipuris would lose their identity, he added.
The spokesman of the committee said the number of outsiders who have entered the state over the last three decades have outnumbered the total population in five hill districts of the state.
The spokesman further said that various social organisations in the state , including women’s organisations under the leadership of the JACILPS, would continue their agitation till their demand was met.
Reports from various districts said that womenfolk, students and volunteers of different organisations have been taking and indicating that they were thinking about rallies and demonstrations in order to press the government for the implementation of the ILP system which is now exercising in full force in many North-eatern states such as the state of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI)
