IMPHAL, Sep 7: The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) has urged the State Government to fix a date for a special session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly before September 21 in order to table a Bill which can effectively protect the indigenous peoples of the land.
Speaking to media persons at their Sega Road, Konjeng Hazari Leikai office this evening, JCILPS convenor in-charge remarked that the State Government’s failure to table a Bill for protection of indigenous people in the recently concluded Assembly session exposed the Government’s casual attitude towards the mass campaign.
As the last session was adjourned sine die, a Cabinet decision and a Governor’s assent are required to convene another session of the Assembly.
The JCILPS would have appreciated the Government had the last Assembly session been adjourned ‘until further notice’.
The Chief Minister’s statement given on the floor of the House tended to blame JCILPS for submitting its views and suggestions on the proposed draft Bill late.
The Chief Minister’s statement tended to say that the proposed draft Bill could not be discussed thoroughly as JCILPS submitted its views and suggestions late but it was not true.
Recommendations adopted at the people’s convention held on August 22 at MDU Hall were submitted to the Chief Minister on August 24. A copy of the recommendations was also sent to the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), BK Moirangcha said.
Regardless of whether the recommendations submitted on August 24 were considered by the Government for incorporation into the draft Bill or not, JCILPS submitted a model Bill on August 29.
It was just two days before the Assembly session commenced that the State Government announced that they were not in a position to table the draft Bill in the House.
Now the Government must table a Bill which would be acceptable to all the communities and they must pass the Bill without resorting to any delaying tactics, BK Moirangcha said.
The Government should announce a date for convening an Assembly session within a week and the session should be before September 21.
The Government should immediately initiate due process for consulting all stake holders including the Hill Areas Committee.
The ongoing mode of democratic agitation being undertaken by JCILPS’s Students Wing and Women Wing would go on until a new Bill is passed.
Students’ Wing Moirangthem Luxman decried that police posed stiff objection when University and college students staged a protest demonstration in front of the Assembly complex today demanding introduction of a Bill for protecting indigenous peoples.
But police turned a blind eye to another group of people who were mobilizing masses using loudspeakers a little distance away, he added.
