From our Special Correspondent

IMPHAL, July 11: The Manipur People’s Party (MPP) which is trying to stage a come back after its election debacle has demanded the reimposition of the Inner Line Permit in Manipur. Some party workers led by Umananda , the MPP President staged a sit-in in the MPP office premises today.

Talking to The Sentinel the MPP President said that once the ILP is reintroduced in Manipur it will go a long way in preserving the integrity of Manipur. He said that the population of the immigrants has increased alarmingly. This has caused a demographic change. There is already a report that the immigrants will overwhelm the indigenous people. There were such sit-in protests in many parts of Imphal and Jiribam adjacent to Silchar.

The people are demanding an Assembly resolution before the adjournment of the House after the budget session. Reports said that the Union Home Minister had informed the Manipur government that it is not a State subject. However, the people point out that the State Government does not need to seek a permission or approval from the centre for taking an Assembly resolution. The organizations which are spearheading the demand for the reintroduction of the ILP hotly contest the official figure which puts the number of immigrants in Manipur to less than 17000 in the 2001 census.

There is no indication that the Manipur Chief Minister who takes permission from the centre for all major decisions here will pilot a discussion before the adjournment of the session. This will spark a series of protests from many sections of the people since there is already a fear that the indigenous people will become strangers in their own state as is happening in Tripura.