Mail News Service
Imphal, July 6 : The demand for implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in the state is gaining momentum with the advisor of Federation of Regional Indigenous Societies (FREINDS) launching a fast unto- death agitation at the Community Hall, Kwakeithel Bazaar in Imphal from Friday.
KB Sharma, advisor of FREINDS and theatre artiste is observing the hunger strike on the demand of implementation of ILP in Manipur under the aegis of the newly formed Joint Committee on ILP System.
The fast unto -death protest has been taken up to enable the future generation to protect the identity of the people of Manipur and to maintain the rule of law, Sharma told journalists at the site where he is undergoing the strike.
He said he does not want the future generation of the state to face the same situation that we have seen in the state of Tripura whose identity is now completely lost due to mass influx of migrants.
It is very important to save the indigenous people in the present critical situation in the state, he remarked.
Sharma said he will continue the protest until and unless the government implements ILP system in the state and that his stance is firm indeed.
Police disrupted the protest by dismantling the banner of the hunger strike but Sharma flanked by members of the Joint Committee on ILP System later continued it.
It is worthy of mentioning that spearheaded by Federation for Regional Indigenous Society (FREINDS) there have been sit-in-protest in most parts of the state capital Imphal these days demanding for the implementation of ILP system in Manipur.
On Tuesday, president of MPP S Umananda Singh the party has been endorsing anyone pushing to implement the ILP in Manipur for several years. Umananda stated that the population of immigrants are so large in Manipur that the economic benefits have not been received by the locals.
According to the 2001 census report, there were more than 7,00,000 migrants in Manipur, which is much more than the tribal population of the state, and so it is high time for the government to recognize the danger of the possibility of a higher rise in the population of migrants with the train reaching the capital of the state, cautioned hunger striker KB Sharma.
He urged the government to make sure that the ILP system is passed as an Act in the coming monsoon session of the state assembly and implemented at the earliest, so as to save the indigenous people of the state from being minorities in their own land.
United Committee Manipur (UCM) had said there are 7, 05, 588 outsiders in Manipur according to the 2001 census while the Meitei population is 7, 51, 422 and the total population of the tribals is 6, 70, 782. The Meitei Muslims (Pangals) have the population of 1, 57, 204.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/fast-unto-death-to-demand-enforcement-of-ilp-begins/
