North Shillong MLA appeals for unity on implementation ILP in whole North East

Shillong, Dec 5: Expressing strong opposition against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, KHNAM legislator from North Shillong, Adelbert Nongrum on Thursday appealed for unity of the North eastern states so that the Inner Line Permit (ILP) can be implemented.

In a statement, Nongrum said, “This is an alarming call to the whole North Eastern region that through this adamant attitude of the Government of India, we should stand united and come out with a uniformed law to protect our own microscopic population by implementing the ILP or else, this issue will burn the whole North East.”

Stating that due to the un-secular and adamant approach by the Government of India, the worst hit would be the NE region, he said, “It may be foreseen that the CAB serves no specific purpose but for a possible partition of the NE region.”

He said the objective of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is viewed as an instrument to marginalize and phase out the ethnic community in lieu of religion and the perpetrated refugees of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The amendment of the Citizenship Bill has been used a medium to further the ideology of religious identity,” he said.

Nongrum also recalled that the framers/ architects of the Constitution has given undue emphasis and impetus to the requirements of the region to have governance on local requirements such as to upkeep and uplift the traditional peculiarity of the region.

“This was agreed upon and thus the region was integrated and has a feature on the governance as recognized in the Constitution. Now if the CAB is implemented, then the entire process, ideology and aspiration that has been handed-down would be in serious harm as the rights and privileges would be abolish due to the advancement on religious lines. The purpose for opposing the CAB is not just for the sake of opposing the bill but what arises as the outcome if it is put into action could not be lamented on various fronts,” he said.

According to him, the vulnerability of the region is that it is surrounded by international borders.

Instead of defending our rights and privileges the CAB will open doors in terms of communalism and the exposure of the flexibility of Indian Constitution without considering the existing population and the long history of the region, the MLA said as he added that if refugee and persecution takes place on religious lines, it is the International Community that needs to be evoked.