There were widespread protests in all the four districts on Wednesday demanding the reintroduction of the Inner Line Permit system in the State.
Significantly, tribals in the five hill districts have not joined the campaign.
There is a constitutional provision which says that non-tribals cannot own land and settle down permanently in the tribal dominated districts.
Four students’ organisations, All Manipur Students' Union, Kangleipak Students' Association, Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur and Manipur Students' Federation, which are components of the students' wing of the Joint Action Committee on ILP System, organised a massive rally at Yairipok in Thoubal district on Wednesday. However, there was no untoward incident.
The Manipur Council of the CPI staged a sit-in in front of the Imphal office on Wednesday. The protest shall continue for three days, according to party sources.
There were rallies and sit-in protests in the Imphal East and Imphal West districts. A huge number of women activists participated in the rallies and sit-in protests at Checkkon, New Checkkon, Khurai, Lamlong. Besides, there were protests at Jiribam bordering Assam.
Muslims too have joined the campaign. The Pangal Students' Organisation says that it supports the demand for the reintroduction of the ILP system.
However, people as a whole are yet to participate in a big way in the Muslim villages.
Though the Manipur government has written a letter to the Union government on the issue, national leaders maintain that the ILP system would not be reintroduced in Manipur. It has been in force in three States in the northeast all these decades.
