Police deployed to prevent untoward incident during ILP stir in Manipur

IMPHAL:State forces, including the police, were deployed in several parts of Manipur, to prevent untoward incidents following large-scale agitation demanding introduction of the Inner Line Permit System (ILPS), official reports said.

The forces were deployed particularly in the four valley districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishenpur and Thoubal, the reports from the PCR said.

Demonstrations, processions and rallies by women torch bearers locally known as ' Meira Paibis' were being held across the state, they said.

Official sources said a 13-member committee of all political parties, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, would meet tomorrow to discuss whether a law can be enacted in the assembly to protect the identities of indigenous people and to discuss how to regulate the entry of outsiders, particularly labourers.

Sources in the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS), which has been spearheading the agitation said they would continue the three-month old stir till their demand was met by the government.

They said the agitation was not against the compatriots entering Manipur but there should be some rules and regulation to protect the identities of the different indigenous people in the state.

The JCILPS was being supported by several social organisations, including students associations and women groups, on the issue.

Meanwhile, a local organisation, the All Lilong Chajing Clubs' Organisation ( ALCCO), formed by social organisations of Chajing area in Imphal west district, said they would impose 'ILPS' at Chajing and surrounding areas on the outskirts of Imphal to prevent entry of any non-Manipuri person without valid documents and identity cards.

An ALCCO spokesman told reporters that "unceasing entry of outsiders particularly labourers" in the state was posing a threat to the identity of indigenous people.

Under the ILPS in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, those who enter the state, mostly labourers, are given a permit for staying there for a stipulated period of time, the sources said.