Meghalaya Assembly adopts resolution to implement ILP

The fear and worry expressed by the indigenous people led the Meghalaya Assembly to adopt a unanimous resolution on Thursday, to ask the Centre for introduction of Inner Line permit (ILP) system in the state, in order to keep it out of the amended Citizenship laws ambit.

The Cabinet of the Meghalaya government, led by the National People’s Party, an ally of the NDA on Wednesday, approved a government resolution on the introduction of the ILP

The 60-member Assembly passed the resolution during a special session, which was convened to discuss the issues and concerns regarding the possible impact of the amended act

After the resolution was adopted, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the state government would ask the Centre to include Meghalaya in the preamble of the Eastern Bengal Frontier resolution (EBFR), 1873 soon, like it did for Manipur.

“This is a very significant step and I hope the Centre will act on the resolution,” Sangma said in a tweet. Soon after the parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 Sangma met Home Minister Amit Shah seeking measures to address the concerns in Meghalaya.

Indigenous communities in Meghalaya, too, fear that it would reduce them into minorities by giving citizenship to a large number of Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, with which the state shares a long border.

While introducing the bill in the parliament, Shah announced that ILP would be introduced in Manipur, like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

He also announced that the amended law would not be implemented in the state having ILP, and in areas under the autonomous council, set up for autonomy and welfare of the indigenous communities.

Entire Meghalaya, barring parts of the state capital Shillong, is protected under such council but organisations and political parties demanded ILP saying that the autonomous council mechanism was not foolproof.

Citizens in the rest of the country are required to take a permit ranging between one week to six months to visit the states having ILP system.