Shillong, Jan 25: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has called upon the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly to adopt a fresh resolution on the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in a challenge to the elected representatives.
The pressure group accused both the central and state governments of rendering the unanimous 2019 resolution ineffective, describing it as a “dead letter.”
The resolution in favour of ILP was passed by the house unanimously in 2019 in the face of strong, and even at times violent, demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act. However, the central government has not taken a decision yet on the request. Pressure groups like the KSU and opposition parties have accused the state government of not pressing New Delhi firmly enough on the matter. The Meghalaya government, on the other hand, repeatedly says that it raises ILP at almost every meeting between it and the Centre.
At the conclusion of its general executive council on Saturday, KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar stated that if the central government continues to defer action on the 2019 resolution, the state government must demonstrate political resolve by adopting another resolution to compel the Centre’s response.
Marngar underscored that, in the absence of effective legal safeguards, indigenous communities remain exposed to what he termed “unregulated influx” of non-residents. This concern has been a recurring theme by various pressure groups over the years, though there is little hard evidence to show an increase in non-tribal population.
