Imphal, May 24 (IANS) Campaigners demanding Inner Line Permit (ILP) system for Manipur on Tuesday tried to storm the offices of the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP here, resulting in six people getting injured, and clashed with police elsewhere in the city.
Four students and two female police officers were injured when students and women wings of Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) stormed the offices of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here.
After JCILPS activists raided the BJP office, police fired tear gas canisters and mock bombs injuring four students.
Other students pelted stone when police began to baton charge them. Two women police officers sustained injuries after being hit by stones.
A woman activist said: "The police used excessive force. They also beat up and bundled away Vidya Lakshmi, who was beaten up mercilessly last year in front of the secretariat during the anti-migrant agitations."
The agitationists are demanding ILP system for Manipur which has been encapsulated in the three anti-migration bills passed by the Manipur assembly on August 31, last year.
The ILP is a special permit required to enter certain restricted areas in the country. The system is already in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
It was first introduced by the British, restricting entry into these areas to protect their commercial interests.
Acceding to the demand of JCILPS, the Congress government in Manipur had last year passed three bills to protect the indigenous people of the state.
They were: The Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015,
The first of these bills proposes to issue a "pass" to any "non-Manipur person" while entering the state.
The bills have been strongly opposed by certain sections in the state, particularly Naga tribes.
