After months of quiet, Meghalaya parties up in arms on permit issue

By Sujit Chakraborty Shillong, Nov 29 : After lying low for months, an apex body of over 17 organisations are intensifying their agitation for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) system across Meghalaya to keep the hill state out of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) purview.
The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO) has been spearheading the agitation since last year for the introduction of ILP in the remaining part of the state.
It resumed its stir from Friday with the organisation of black-flag protests across Meghalaya.
The agitation for ILP was suspended during the Covid-induced situations and government’s restrictions. A CoMSO Secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said that they would hold sit-in demonstrations in all 11 districts and in some sub-divisional headquarters besides in Shillong on December 4.
“We have been asking all 60 Meghalaya MLAs and three MPs of the state to hold sit-in demonstrations in Delhi to ensure that the ILP is enforced in the state soon,” Synrem told IANS over phone on Sunday.
He said: “Even though Meghalaya Assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution on December 19 last year, the Home Ministry is yet to take appropriate steps to enforce the ILP in the remaining part of the state.”