Nothing less than ILP : IPAK
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 15 2015 : Indigenous People's Association of Kangleipak (IPAK) has said that the people's demand is the full implementation of ILPS with the passing of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 and not the Bill which is to be drafted anew.

Speaking to reporters at their office, IPAK president Sapamcha Jadumani questioned whether the State Government has sought time to draft a Bill acceptable to the Centre.

Although, controversial Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill-2015 has been withdrawn by the State Assembly, people are still apprehensive about the new Bill which the Government has promised to pass soon.

It is also questionable what the State Government would do if the Centre is not willing to give its nod to the proposed new Bill, he said.

Jadumani said that people started their agitation demanding implementation of ILPS (Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873) in 1990 .

The said regulation is currently enforced in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

After FREINDS intensified its pro-ILPS movement with the support of the people, the State Assembly passed the Bengal Eastern Fronteir Regulation 1873 on two different occasions on June 13, 2012 and July 13, 2013 .

However, as the Centre was not willing to implement ILPS in the State, Manipur Government passed MRVTMW Bill 2015 that led to people's uprising and loss of a student's life, Jadumani said.

Stating that revocation of a Bill which has already been passed is an embarrassment, Jadumani opined that all these happened due to State Government's lack of political will.

Although people have been demanding ILPS implementation, Government is now hinting at passing a similar Bill for the protection of indigenous people, he said while adding that this has on the otherhand created doubts in the minds of the general public.

As such IPAK wants to clear this doubt to the people that ILPS is currently enforced in three North East States - Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh while the phrase 'Bill for the protection of indigenous people of Manipur' was coined by Manipur Government, he said.

Jadumani said that the Government must understand that people's wish is the implementation of ILPS and not the Bill which is to be drafted anew.

Observing that the new Bill would always have its loopholes and can never be ILPS, Jadumani opined that implementation of ILPS would be a reality in the State only when the State Government presses the Centre regarding the matter with the support of the general public.

He also clarified that the present pro-ILPS movement has nothing to do with the prohibition on entry of non-locals or flushing out outsiders from the State but to regulate their entry and exit.

Maintaining that non-locals do not mean only the people coming from Indian States, Jadumani said that the term non-locals covers all the people coming from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh as well.

Of the 8 lakh non-local population, around 5 lakh people comprise of Myanmarese Kukis, Bangladeshi Muslims and Nepali Nationals, he said.

Saying that some people have propagated the current pro-ILPS movement as communal in the mainstream media and social networking sites, Jadumani observed that a timely clarification must be made in order to prevent showing the present movement in a bad light.

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