Students protest influx of ‘illegal immigrants’ to Nagaland

Says exclusion of Dimapur from BERF purview has turned district into ‘safe haven of illegal immigrants’ Chief minister's representative assures to convene a meeting of all stakeholders to address the issue

[caption id="attachment_202941" align="alignnone" width="550"] Members of the Naga Students’ Federation participating at a rally in Kohima on Friday. (EM Images)[/caption] Our Correspondent Kohima, August 24 (EMN): Hundreds of Naga students on Friday staged a rally in Kohima demanding the state government to implement stringent rules to check influx of ‘illegal immigrants’ and also to bring the state’s commercial hub Dimapur under the ambit of Inner Line Permit rules. The rally was organised by the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) outside its office premise in the heart of the capital town. Following the rally, the students along with members of the public marched to the chief minister’s official residence at Ministers’ Hill and submitted a memorandum. Highlighting its recently launched exercise to check influx of ‘illegal Immigrants’ and ILP defaulters in various districts, the federation sought the chief minister’s attention to the enforcement of the ILP mechanism in the state. It stated that existing rules were not properly implemented and the influx of ‘illegal Immigrants’ posed a huge demographic threat to the indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland. The NSF expressed concern that lack of stringent implementation of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BERF) 1873 and the exclusion of Dimapur district from the purview of ILP have made said district a safe haven for ‘illegal immigrants.’ “It is an established fact that, if Dimapur is allowed to be converted to a melting pot, overwhelmed by people with questionable identities, the rest of Nagaland in particular and the north-eastern hills will be illegally dominated, threatening our identity, culture and our very survival and resulting in societal destruction. Therefore, in the interest to protect the welfare and future of the younger generation, the NSF demands that, Dimapur district be included within the purview of ILP as per the provision for extension of the Inner Line which is provided in the Bengal Eastern frontier Regulation 1873,” the NSF stated. The federation also asked the government to intimate the student body of necessary measures taken and initiated by the government regarding this matter within a month’s time. With the chief minister Neiphiu Rio stated to be pre-engaged, the NSF delegation submitted the memorandum through advisor to the chief minister, Viketol Sakhrie. A statement from the chief minister’s office this evening, informed that the NSF delegation appealed to the government of Nagaland to take up all necessary measures in streamlining the ILP issuing mechanisms. Sakhrie was stated to have conveyed the appreciation of the chief minister towards concern and efforts of the students, and expressed that this was a common problem with potential to impact future generations. “On behalf of the chief minister and the government of Nagaland, the advisor assured that the state government is working with all seriousness on the matter and that the chief minister will call for a joint consultative meeting with all stakeholders in the near future,” the statement read.   ‘Enough of representations, committees’ Earlier during the rally, NSF president Kesosul Christorpher Ltu bluntly asserted that the government machinery have miserably failed to monitor the implementation of ILP system, which was why there was unchecked inflow of illegal immigrants in various parts of the state. He pointed out that the police check gates have become porous and ineffective as they have no record of how many people requiring ILP were entering or leaving the state. Due to the failure of the state government in checking influx of illegal immigrants, he said, civil organisations and student bodies have recently taken it upon themselves to carry out verification of ILP as there were many people in the state without necessary permit and some without any valid documents.s Ltu said that multiple representations, memorandums and reminders to the state government had failed to yield any result, which was why the issue had to be taken to the streets in this manner. The NSF also questioned the state government’s recent decision to constitute a new committee under the nomenclature ‘Joint Committee on Prevention of Illegal Immigrants’ when the government’s 2015 committee to study the implementation of ILP in the state had already submitted its report and recommendations. The student leader wondered if it was a tactic to temporarily pacify the outcry of the people by forming committee after committee, while questioning what was lacking in the report of the previous committee which was formed at the highest level. He strongly appealed to the government that the people has had enough of committees and reports. “You have to have the political will and the determination to secure our future and our rights,” Ltu flatly stated. He also highlighted to the gathering that as the federation’s first phase of checking influx of illegal immigrants, student volunteers undertook field verification of permits; and today’s rally and procession to submit memorandum to the chief minister was the second phase. The student leader remarked that states like Arunachal Pradesh or Mizoram had strict ILP enforcement but in Nagaland, people who were required to have ILP were randomly arriving and leaving, that too, right under the nose of the authorities. Stating that the future of the state was being ‘sabotaged and hijacked’ for a few hundreds of rupees, Ltu lamented that ‘our own people’ were acting as middlemen (dalals) by collecting ILP from different persons for renewal at a commission of mere INR 50-100. Towards this, he said the federation has taken a decision to deal with any person identified and caught playing middlemen, befittingly. We will not allow our future to be compromised in the hands of few people who try to earn some money by being dalali to illegal immigrants, the NSF president sounded. He also narrated an incident during the process of the NSF field verification where some of the student volunteers who caught ILP defaulters were offered money (bribe). “When our volunteers asked for ILP from some people, they replied, ‘Dada, expire hoishe ho. Apuni itu poisa loi kena morom para banai anidibi na (Big brother, my permit has expired. Please take this cash and renew it for me)’. That is the confidence they (defaulters) have in our state. There is something wrong in the system. Something is also wrong with our own people as well,” Ltu said. He expressed hope that the district administration authorities would respond to such ‘open bribes’ appropriately. Also, the NSF president said after student volunteers caught 31 ILP defaulters in Kohima on August 8 during verification exercise and handed them over to Kohima police, he was approached the next day by a person claiming to be in the rank of a ‘lieutenant’ of a certain Naga national group informing that one of his men was among those detained. “He had the audacity to come to my (office) chamber to ask me to write a letter to release an ILP defaulter, an illegal immigrant! Today, let’s make it very clear to the Naga political groups that our Naga political issue, the Naga political cause, the aspiration- is very sacred and close to our hearts. As much as you are sacrificing, we the students are sacrificing more than that and we will not, under any circumstances, allow illegal immigrants or people with questionable identities to go around in the name of our Naga political issue. The political groups should also be very clear on this stand. We will not allow outsiders or people with questionable identities to roam around and threaten people in the name of the Naga cause,” Ltu stated. Also delivering a speech at the rally, Neichüte Doulo of the Entrepreneurs Associates, who is also a member of the NSF’s ILP committee, said the problem of illegal immigrants was not limited to Nagaland alone, but one that plagued the sovereign rights of nations worldwide and its menace has brought turmoil and terror to countries which were once peaceful. “Our fight against Illegal Immigration is a common fight,” he said, pointing that the dangerous problem of Illegal immigrants issue does not rest with the government alone but the responsibility of the citizens as well. While the government needed to strictly enforce rules, citizens’ vigilance against cheap inflow of labour brought in by illegal immigrants, the latter’s willingness to pay exorbitant rent for commercial and residential sites, the plump easy protection money paid to local goons and their willingness to practice price discrimination in the market place etc. was also required, Doulo stated. He said these were only few of the tactics practised by illegal immigrants in settling in ‘our native land’. Doulo candidly stated that almost everyone was responsible in making illegal immigrants grow in Nagaland. “As long as we buy from illegal immigrants, we are their patrons. As long as you give your land to them to cultivate, you fan their population growth. As long as you hire them for cheap labour, you give them livelihoods. As long as you hire them to drive cars and construct your houses, you promote their employment. All these are not government actions. They are the actions of ordinary citizens,” he said. He felt that as long as Naga youth look only at government jobs and shun business and farms, illegal immigrants will flourish, not just from Bangladesh but tomorrow, it could be from China, Pakistan, etc. “The youth must become entrepreneurial, not just to become rich and successful, but to secure the future of our people. Being cocooned within the government job is rapidly leading to the loss of control over economic resources into the hands of illegal immigrants and non locals. If we have been part of the problem, then we are definitely part of the solution. Let us all resolve to buy from shops run by our local people, let us hire our locals, let us give our buildings and commercial sites to our own people so that they can run successful enterprises,” Doulo said while also appealing to the youth to begin within their family. “Look around us. Individuals, Contractors and Churches engage Illegal Immigrants for construction works to save cost, oblivious to the threat of unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants and the fact that we are co participants in breaking the law for harbouring illegal immigrants. Our churches seem to be the biggest employer of illegal immigrants, engaging them endlessly for the church construction works. The church must become alive to this dangerous threat,” he added. The entrepreneur felt that the NSF must seriously ponder on the tasks at hand and work hand in hand with the state government in reframing the landscape of ILP to the entire district of Dimapur and tackle the illegal immigrant issue with an iron hand to secure our future. Stating that the issue cannot be tackled with emotive and reactive strategies, Doulo advocated for a calm, calculative and determined approach to curb it.