CAB fuels demand for ILP in the rest of Northeast

The Centre's resolve to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has fuelled the demand to extend the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to all seven states of the Northeast, under which citizens from the rest of the country are required to have travel permits to travel to the region.

"We have been demanding the ILP in the entire Northeast to protect the region from becoming a dumping ground for illegal migrants. But instead, the Narendra Modi government is bringing the CAB to give citizenship to Hindu migrants till 2014. If they can extend it to Manipur as a shield against the possible impact of the Bill, why not for those living in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura too?" advisor of All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.

Tabling the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Home Minister Amit Shah announced in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the ILP would be extended to entire Manipur, where there has been similarly strong demand for exemption from the CAB.

Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland (barring Dimapur district), at present have, ILP, which can be availed online or offline by submitting identity details and clearly mentioning travel dates and purpose of visit. Initially, ILP is issued for a week. The ILP was introduced under the Bengal Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, which was allowed to continue in 1950.

Shah also said the CAB would be exempted from areas falling under autonomous councils formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution having administrative set up to govern the indigenous communities. Assam has three autonomous councils covering at least seven districts, three in Meghalaya, covering more than 90% area while Tripura has one, covering parts of the state.

Ninoto Awomi, president of Naga Students' Federation, however, told DH that the administration failed to stop the influx of illegal migrants in Nagaland despite having the ILP. "Mechanism to implement ILP is still poor. Moreover, Northeast is like one block and therefore even if the CAB is implemented in a small pocket, the protected areas will be affected," he said.

"We want that the Northeast be exempted from the CAB's purview, have ILP to protect us from migration of illegal migrants, who will get citizenship in rest of the country, detect and deport the post-1971 migrants already living in Assam, irrespective of religion, provide constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people, reserve jobs and land rights for the locals. Otherwise, our agitation will continue," Bhattacharya told reporters here.