DIMAPUR, AUGUST 12 (MExN): The Joint Committee on Prevention of Illegal Immigration (JCPI) has demanded that the state government announce the declaration of Dimapur as an ILP zone and begin its pre-implementation exercise from now so that by the time the RIIN exercise is done, the full and official implementation of ILP in Dimapur and elsewhere will begin without delay.
It noted that the state government has the “full legal and moral authority to implement ILP and RIIN in the state.” A press note from the JCPI Convenor, K Ghokheto Chopy and Secretary, Tia Longchar
further cautioned that the government “cannot fool the people by simply adopting a Cabinet resolution to implement the ILP in Dimapur.”
It meanwhile stated that “opposition to RIIN by some defunct organisations should not give the government the excuse to delay announcement of implementation of ILP in Dimapur.”
“If this happens, the people will take to the streets to protect the integrity of the state at any cost. At the moment it seems the state government is running scared of un-mandated and faceless organisations rather than protecting the demographic position of the state. The JCPI knows that RIIN is indispensable for effective implementation of ILP in Nagaland and the Government of Nagaland cannot afford to be bogged down by the voices of busybodies and their negative posturing. Whoever stands for BEFR of 1873 must welcome RIIN,” it asserted.
While stating that establishing the identity of indigenous inhabitants is a “basic necessity which should have been done since the inception of statehood,” the JCPI said that “it is never too late and all the stakeholders irrespective of political party, ethnicity or organisational affiliation must unequivocally support the identification process.”
The exercise, it stated would provide basic statistics for the purpose of “protecting indigenous inhabitants of the land and for effective implementation of government programmes and policies and also to enforce the law of the land.”
It further urged against confusing the public regarding RIIN.
“The cut-off date of 1st December 1963 is only for the purpose of identifying non-Nagas and Nagas from other states who may be qualified to be called indigenous inhabitant of Nagaland. Otherwise Nagas (and Kacharis, Kukis, Garos, Mikirs) of Nagaland are indigenous to the state and the cut-off criterion does not apply,” it said.
The JCPI meanwhile cautioned against heeding to demands for setting the cut-off date to 1977. “The JCPI will be on warpath if this is even mooted by the government. At a time when the status of J&K has been downgraded, only traitors will be ranting against RIIN,” it said.
.JPG)
