Pro-ILP groups may launch stir after council elections

TURA: Pressure groups from both the Khasi and Garo Hills region that are calling for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state as a mechanism to check illegal influx have stated that they will wait for the completion of the ongoing elections to the Khasi and Jaintia Autonomous District Councils before deciding on an agitation course.
“The state government was supposed to show us its final draft on containing influx this week, but has so far not done so. We will wait for the council polls to get over and if no progress is made then we will have to decide on a state-wide agitation course,” warned chairman of the Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC) Nikman Marak while speaking to The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
A delegation of Garo organisations, led by GSMC’s Marak and including members of the western and eastern zone of the Garo Students Union, has been camping in Shillong since the beginning of this week.
On Monday, they had parlays with their Khasi Hills counterparts led by the Hynniewtrep Youth Council at Shillong Club.
Nikman Marak also said that their organisations from both the Khasi and Garo Hills region will jointly take up a series of issues affecting the state in a phased manner. “We are starting with the demand for implementation of the Inner Line Permit and this will be followed with the issues pertaining to the National Register of Citizens issue and the Citizenship Amendment Bill,” informed the chairman of the Garoland Movement Committee.
A number of student and social groups in the state have for long been mooting for implementation of ILP citing it as the best mechanism to check the menace of illegal migration from neighbouring states as well as Bangladesh.