Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Inner-Line Permit (ILP) had been the Centre’s biggest gift to Manipur since its statehood.
Implemented under the British-era Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, the ILP is an official document issued to let an Indian citizen enter a protected area for a limited period. Pressure groups in the northeast view this permit as a shield against the entry of illegal immigrants.
“ILP was a long-standing demand of the people of Manipur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji thought denying ILP will be an injustice to the indigenous people of Manipur. So, he gave it to the State in December last year . This is the biggest gift given by the Centre to Manipur since it was established as a State,” Mr. Shah said at a public function in State capital Imphal.
Apart from Manipur, ILP is needed in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. Several groups in Meghalaya have been demanding the implementation of ILP.
Slams Cong.
The Union Home Minister slammed the Congress for failing to solve the problem of extremism in Manipur.
“No effort was made during the Congress rule to initiate peace process with such groups or facilitate surrender of their members and people kept getting killed. The BJP government has established peace in Manipur,” he said, claiming peace agreements with most groups were signed after 2014.
“I believe the remaining groups, currently outside the purview of peace process, will soon join the mainstream,” Mr. Shah said.
“There was a time when Manipur was known for bandhs and blockades. Law and order always used to be in discussion. Modi ji had promised to the people of Manipur that bandhs and blockades will be a thing of the past and over the past three years, there was not a single bandh in the State,” he said.
He appealed to the State’s civil society groups to have faith in the government and include Manipur’s development in their charter of demands.
The civil society organisations had on Saturday said the people of Manipur would not accept any ethnic-based territorial council within Manipur. They said such an arrangement would create more political and ethnic problems in the State.
