NSF rally in Kohima against entry of illegal immigrants

The Naga Students' Federation (NSF) today took to the streets of Kohima to protest against alleged influx of illegal immigrants and demand inclusion of Dimapur district under the purview of Inner Line Permit (ILP).

The Inner Line Permit is required by non-Nagas to visit Nagaland and Dimapur is the only district in the state which is not under the purview of ILP.

The NSF, the apex students' body of the state, described today's rally as the second phase of protest against "influx of illegal immigrants into the state".

Addressing the gathering, NSF president Kesosul Christopher Ltu said the younger generation is worried that illegal immigrants would overtake the indigenous people of the state if the influx is not checked.

"Government machineries have miserably failed to monitor implementation of ILP in the state," he alleged.

Ltu claimed that check gates in different parts of the state remained ineffective maintaining no record of outsiders entering the state with ILP and going back.

Because of this "failure of government mechanism", the NSF was compelled to check the ILP of non-Nagas on August 8 in the first phase of its protest, he said.

"The government should take the NSF and civil societies into confidence in making the ILP regime efficient and effective," said Neichute Doulo, a member of the NSF's ILP committee.

The NSF members rallied through the main town of Kohima amid rain and submitted a memorandum on their demand to the chief minister's advisor.

In the memorandum, the NSF said exclusion of Dimapur from the purview of the ILP has made the district a safe haven for illegal immigrants, posing the "biggest demographic threat to the indigenous inhabitants of the state".

"It is without any doubt to assert that, overwhelming population of people with questionable identities inhabit Dimapur district which is evident as most of them do not possess any documents of their identification proof," the students body said in the memorandum.

The NSF set a month's deadline for the government to intimate it of the necessary measures taken and initiated by the government for this matter.