SHILLONG, Feb 28: The Opposition Congress on Sunday asked the state government to convene a meeting with all political parties and stakeholders on the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP) before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Meghalaya.
“All stakeholders inclusive of all political parties, NGOs, civil society groups, traditional institutions and District Councils should be called for a session prior to the Home Minister’s visit,” Congress leader Ampareen Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
“If you leave it only to the state government then things may again go out of hand or they might miss the main point,” she said while underlining the reason behind her demand.
Enquired if the Opposition leaders would meet the Union Home Minister, Lyngdoh said, “Ideally, the government should invite us but in case they don’t, we will make our voice heard through the media.”
The Congress leader made it clear that there should be no dilly-dally on the ILP issue. She also asked the state government to ensure that all confusion regarding the choice between ILP and Sixth Schedule should be cleared.
) Citing instances of other Northeastern states where ILP has already been implemented, Lyngdoh said, “We should ensure that when the Union Home Minister is here, we should get into the modalities of what kind of ILP should be implemented in Meghalaya.”
“Nagaland has its own application while Arunachal has its own application of ILP. Some states allow permits for upto three months while others allow permit for two months. We will have to look at all these modalities,” she explained.
Lyngdoh also stated that the state government should ensure that ILP implementation in Meghalaya should not come at the cost of implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and there should be no further discussion on normal and scheduled areas in the state.
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