SHILLONG, MARCH 25: The North East Students’ Organization (NESO) staged a sit-in-demonstration in all the state capitals of the region on Monday in favour of its long-pending demands, including the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) across the region, and also to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the pressing matters.
The sit-in-protest was held in-front of the AIR office adjacent to the Governor’s House here by members of the KSU, FKJGP, HNYF and GSU among others. The protestors carried placards seeking the introducntion of ILP. Some of them read: “Our State is not dumping ground for illegal immigrants.”
“The protest is part of our pressure campaign against the Centre to get our legitimate demands that are long overdue implemented,” NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa told reporters. He said among the various issues affecting the north-east, influx and infiltration of people from Bangladesh and Nepal have assumed significant proportion not only in Meghalaya but the entire region. “If we don’t act now, it may be too late,” he added.
Among its other demand include immediate repeal of the Arms Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the north-east, scrapping of the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty, 1950, staple visa for Arunachal Pradesh, separate time zone for region and special constitutional status for different states of the region.
Jyrwa said the NESO was contemplating meeting the Prime Minister, the Union home minister and other officials in the near future and seek their immediate intervention on the matter. “We would apprise him (PM) on the various pending issues and hope the Centre would address them accordingly,” he said.
Based on the outcome from these meetings, which could take place as early as next month, the NESO, he said, will decide on its future course of action. “We will also approach the different state governments of the region for their support in addressing the core issues relating to the region,” Jyrwa added. (By Our Reporter)
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