DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 2 (MExN): Following the release of the final National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) draft in Assam, the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) today demanded that the Nagaland State Government enforce stringent checking of Inner Line Permit at all the check gates. It also asked the Nagaland State Police to impose strong punitive measures on ILP defaulters.
“The NSF in view of the final National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) draft having been published in Assam is perturbed by the exclusion of nearly 2 million people,” a press note from the federation stated.
In light of the poorly enforced ILP regime in Nagaland, the NSF said that the “impending exodus of illegal immigrants from the neighbouring states is posing as the biggest demographic threat to the indigenous inhabitants of the State.”
The federation expressed deep anguish at the State Government for its inaction in the district of Dimapur and for allowing it to flourish “as the floodgate of illegal immigrants in the state.”
The lack of stringent implementation of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873 and the exclusion of Dimapur district from the purview of ILP have made Dimapur district a safe haven for the illegal immigrants, the NSF pointed out. It further said that there is “an imminent threat to the Naga indigenous inhabitants being out-numbered by the populace of illegal immigrants via Dimapur district.”
The federation termed it of paramount importance to the State Government to exercise a strong political will and to immediately act upon the implementation of the ILP regime in Dimapur district as passed on February 21 this year in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly Budget Session and as endorsed in the Abhijit Singh ILP Committee recommendation.
The NSF further appealed to all its federating units and all right thinking Naga citizens to “remain more vigilant on the influx of non-locals and illegal immigrants that is expected to sharply increase in the coming days.”
The NSF meanwhile stated that its federating units have been extensively conducting verification of Inner Line Permit (ILP) holders in various districts in the past many years.
“However, the lapses and the lack of sincerity within the State Government in the implementation of ILP in the state of Nagaland in its entirety has done irreparable damage on the cultural, economic and demographic aspects,” it lamented.
The NSF further stated that this has negated the very purpose of BEFR Act of 1873 “which was enacted to protect and safeguard the Naga ethnicity as an entity of the land and resources from the outsiders.”
