Meghalaya Assembly adopts inner line permit resolution

The Meghalaya Assembly here on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the Centre to promulgate the inner line permit (ILP) in the mountainous state to keep it out of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act's (CAA) purview.

The resolution was moved in the House by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and members cutting across the party lines, including of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), supported it.

The one-day session had been convened with one-point agenda -- to pass the mandatory resolution, before the Union Home Ministry issued a notification to enforce the ILP. The state cabinet had approved the resolution on Tuesday.

Last week, Sangma had led a delegation of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) to meet Home Minister Amit Shah to demand introduction of the ILP in Meghalaya. "We discussed the ILP and other issues with the Home Minister who assured us of a positive response," said Sangma.

The ILP, in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, was notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a stipulated period.

The CAA will not apply to the ILP and the Tribal Autonomous District Council (TADC) areas.

In the northeastern states there are 10 TADCs, constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. While Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram have three TADCs each, Tripura has one.

Meanwhile, the curfew was relaxed for 14 hours from 6 a.m. in two police station areas -- Lumdiengjri and Sadar -- here on Thursday. Suspension of mobile internet services remain in force.

All banks, shops and markets, educational institutions are functioning and vehicles are plying normally on the roads.

Curfew was imposed in Shillong and its outskirts on December 11 after anti-CAA stir.IANS