From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, Feb 25: The Hynniewtrep A’chik National Movement (HANM) on Tuesday held a sit-in in Delhi, renewing the demands for the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Meghalaya, recognition of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and creation of an interstate boundary commission.
During the protest, the members of HANM waved banners and placards in support of the demands. Their leaders insisted that the demands should be fulfilled early given the fast-changing political situation in neighbouring Bangladesh.
HANM president Lamphrang Kharbani and general secretary Defoster Rynjah read out a memorandum addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The group is trying to meet him and other central leaders to pursue the demands.
The introduction of ILP has become an absolute necessity to protect the indigenous people. Meghalaya shares a 443-km long border with Bangladesh and the influx of people from the neighbouring country is increasing day by day, the speakers claimed.
They pointed out that the Meghalaya Assembly has already passed a resolution unanimously in support of ILP and it was handed over to all central leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
They said Shah also had meetings with local pressure groups and NGOs on the issue in Shillong and New Delhi. They said the Centre should honour the just demand for inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The Meghalaya Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on this issue in 2019, they said.
The group said it is imperative that an interstate boundary commission is created considering the violent border disputes among most states of the Northeast in the past.
“Luckily, such disputes have been resolved to some extent due to the visionary leadership of the states and timely intervention by the Centre,” the group said.
It added that ILP, a legacy of the British Raj in the form of The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, is more relevant now than ever before. ILP has been already implemented in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.