Seminar backs Public Action Committee (PAC)’s efforts on illegal migrants

An extensive discussion on ‘illegal immigrants’ organized by Public Action Committee (PAC) Friday resolved to support the ongoing process of “detection mechanism” undertaken by PAC at a seminar held at Ana-Ki here Friday.

According to PAC coordinator Joel Nillo Kath, the meeting adopted the resolution unanimously as the danger of the influx of “illegal immigrants” in Nagaland was a reality that needed to be tackled both by the government and civil society “with great urgency”.

It was also resolved to bring Dimapur under the ambit of ILP zone and its issuance “strictly monitored and loopholes detected and plugged”.

It was also decided that trade license be issued only to those running businesses themselves and that no “proxy Trade License” especially to those persons of doubtful identity. 

The PAC resolution also requested RTOs to issue driving licenses with “outmost care” since these were being misused to claim Indian citizenship.

The meeting also resolved that no outsider should be enrolled in the electoral roll unless accompanied with their electoral roll registration of their parent state and that those enrolled in 1963 and before should be considered as “bonafide citizens of the state”. 

PAC urged Naga house owners and landowners not to rent out their house/commercial establishments to “illegal immigrants or miyas”.

The house also resolved that the Naga Council/PAC fight against illegal immigrants should be spread to all the districts of Nagaland with the help of tribal hohos, NGOs and mass-based organizations.

Earlier, speaking on the topic ‘Impact of illegal immigrants in Northeast India and Nagaland’, BBC’s former East India bureau chief and editor-in-chief of a recently launched Guwahati-based English newsdaily, Subir Bhaumik, asserted that migration in the region was “natural” due to its geographical location.

On influx of migrants to the region, Bhaumik described Nagaland as “fluid corridors” which provided opportunities to the migrants especially as cheap labour.

As land was the primary resource of a community he said unlike other states, Nagaland despite Art.371(A) which protected traditional land and customary rights, Nagas could face threats due to rise in population of illegal migrants.

Bhaumik then said that state government should give maximum importance to the issue as migration relates to political power, economic resources and social economy.

He also claimed that a former governor of the state in a detailed report, lamented that the state government was not giving any importance to the issue of illegal migrants which was described as being more serious than insurgency.

 Bhaumik opined that the state government was not taking the issue seriously as it was more concerned with the peace process. He acknowledged that the peace process as important but that it should be “transparent”.

 ‘Supra-state’ concept
Using a greater portion of the time to focus on the Naga political negotiations, Bhaumik claimed that the concept of “Supra State”(meaning a status higher than a state purportedly mooted as a final solution) in the ongoing negotiations between the government of India with the NSCN(I-M), Bhaumik tried to defend the concept after it was rubbished by the union home minister Chidambaram.

He disclosed that a correspondent had somehow gleaned the document containing the concept of “Supra State” from Interlocutor R.S.Pandey’s office.

Bhaumik claimed that the “Supra State” concept was later disclaimed by the Centre after Manipur chief minister O Ibobi, warned that if it was acceded, then the Congress would not win elections in Manipur.

He also implied that P.Chidambaram could be lying when he feigned ignorance about “Supra-state” for the Nagas.

Principal City Law College, Leonard Aier spoke on the topic ‘Legal mechanism and other provisions to tackle influx of illegal immigrants’.

He highlighted on the case ‘Sarbananda sonowal versus union of India and another’, July 1960 sixteen point agreement and on the speeches of various Naga politicians on illegal migration.

During the discussion hour, issues inter-marriage between Nagas and non-Nagas and the latter becoming indigenous Nagas, issue of rampant “certificates”, driving license etc. was discussed.

One of the participant claimed that even the driving license of Sachin Tendulkar was issued at Nagaland while the other said that Nagaland should not be known as ‘Land of festivals’ but ‘Land of certificates’.