GUWAHATI: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has pledged to undertake an operation against illegal migrants and people residing in the state without possession of inner line permit (ILP) from August 17.
AAPSU had recently constituted a three-member committee in the wake of neighbouring Assam publishing the complete draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30 and after taking “serious note” of the presence of illegal migrants in Arunachal Pradesh.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Monday, Tobom Dai, the general secretary of the students’ union, informed that all the district students’ unions have been informed about the constitution of the committee and directed to launch “Operation Clean Drive” against people residing in the state without ILP in their respective districts.
“We have set a 15-day deadline for people without ILP to acquire the same by August 16, 2018 through submission of the requisite documents. From August 17, 2018, we along with the police administration will carry out door-to-door checking as part of the operation against illegal migrants,” Dai said.
Asked whether the students’ union would push for an NRC-like document in Arunachal Pradesh, he said that there was a “murmur among people” in this regard and that the union would have to discuss before making such a move.
“Two months back when the joint parliamentary delegation was in Shillong, we had touched upon the topic. But of course, if Assam with such a huge population can carry out such a exercise, there was no reason why a similar process cannot be initiated in Arunachal Pradesh, which has a population of just about 12 lakh according to the last census,” he said.
“But of course, the modalities have to be worked out in accordance with the situation in the state before such a consideration is made by the government,” Dai added.
There are 26 major tribes and over 120 sub-tribes in Arunachal Pradesh.
The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), of which AAPSU is a member organisation, had during a meeting in Shillong on Sunday called for the implementation of NRC in the entire Northeast.
NESO had suggested that the modalities in this regard could be worked out by the respective states as their political situation is different.