ILP stir intensifies in Manipur

IMPHAL: Intensifying its 'ban' on the entry of non-locals into Manipur, the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) rounded up 13 labourers in Imphal on Tuesday.

The non-locals, all construction labourers from West Bengal, were going from

Dimapur

to Imphal on a mini-bus along NH-39 when they were waylaid and rounded up by JCILPS volunteers in the Motbung area of Senapati district in the morning.

Volunteers and supporters of the joint committee have forced more than 100 non-locals to get off interstate passenger buses and return to their respective states since enforcing the 'ban' last Friday.

A conglomerate of several civil and students' bodies of Manipur, JCILPS intensified its campaign against 'outsiders' after the Okram Ibobi Singh government failed to pass a bill to protect indigenous people within the September 21 deadline set by it. Students and government employees have been kept outside the purview of the ban.

Convener in charge of the joint committee BK Moirangcha said the 13 labourers 'detained' on Tuesday had been engaged by a special contractor to build a bridge. He urged the transport operator who brought them to the state and the contractor to appear at JCILPS's Imphal office to explain their action. The 13 workers would be handed over to police, he added.

The intensified drive against the entry of non-locals was not 'anti-Indian' but was protesting against the failure of the Centre and the state government to enact a law to safeguard the indigenous people of Manipur, Moirangcha said.