Manipur to be included in Inner Line Permit system: Amit Shah informs Parliament

Manipur will be included in the Inner Line Permit (IPL) system, Home Minister Amit Shah announced while moving the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, for passage in Lok Sabha on Monday.

"We are including Manipur in the Inner Line Permit system. This big issue has now been resolved. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of people of Manipur for fulfilling this long-standing demand," the Home Minister told the House.

An ILP is a travel document that is issued by the Government of India for travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

This practice owes its origin to the British admin's the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations of 1873 and is seen as a security measure as well as an effort to conserve the ethnic-social demographics of certain societies.

Speaking on the bill, Shah said that the government is committed to protecting the identity of Northeast people. "We are committed to protecting the socio, linguistic and cultural identity of people of Northeast," he said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

Through this Bill, Indian citizenship will be provided to the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from the three countries to India till December 31, 2014, to put an end to them being treated as illegal immigrants in the country.