Shillong, Jun 4: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has again raised the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP) and Khasi language with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to Shillong today.
Shah is in the city to chair the plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC).
Briefing media persons after meeting Shah, KSU general secretary Reuben Najiar said that the students’ body conveyed to the Union Home Minister that ILP has been the long pending demand of the people of Meghalaya.
“With mass evictions of illegal migrants in West Bengal and Assam, such immigrants are not going back to Bangladesh but are settling elsewhere. Since Meghalaya has no law to protect itself from such illegal immigration, it is high time that ILP is implemented to protect the microscopic tribal population of the State,” Najiar said.
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Stating that it is for the Centre to examine the issue and clarify why ILP should or should not be granted, Najiar said, “Manipur received ILP in 2019. We are hopeful that Meghalaya will also get in the coming months or years.”
On the demand for inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule, Najiar said that the Union Home Minister informed that a committee comprising of retired Supreme Court judges will be set up soon to examine and decide on the matter since there are around 100 languages seeking inclusion in the Eighth Schedule.
Another issue raised by the KSU with Shah is the inter-state border dispute with Assam.
“We informed the Union Home Minister that Assam has recently turned aggressive even in disputed areas where the status quo must be maintained. In Lapangap and elsewhere, Assam has acted as the aggressor, violating the spirit of peaceful settlement with Meghalaya,” Najiar said.
He added, “The Union Home Minister assured us that this is a dispute between two states, and if the Centre finds that the process is not proceeding through proper channels, the Government of India will intervene.”
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