AAMSU-AAPSU rendezvous endorses Operation Clean drive

Itanagar, Jul 23 (UNI) A delegation of All Assam Minority Students' Union(AAMSU) has endorsed All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU)'s campaign against illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Arunachal Pradesh.

The 40-member AAMSU delegates arrived here on an invitation from AAPSU to make a genuine effort to remove all doubts on the issue through a meeting held yesterday.

''AAMSU was against the stay of foreigners in any state of the nation,'' said AAMSU president H Sobibor Rahman. Endorsing AAPSU's drive against the foreigners, he, however, stressed that genuine Indians should not be harassed on the pretext of the drive.

''We are with AAPSU in its drive against illegal immigrants but we also want assurance that genuine Indians belonging to minority communities would not be harassed,'' he said.

Assuring on behalf of AAPSU, its general secretary Ojing Tasing reiterated that the drive was not against any particular community, but against illegal immigrants living within the state without valid documents.

Both Mr Tasing and Mr Rahman appealed to the Arunachal government to ensure safety of those who are genuinely Indians, staying and working in the state, while implementing the Bengal Frontier Act of 1873.

AAMSU and AAPSU also urged upon the state government to provide inner-line permits (ILPs) to genuine Indians on the basis of permanent residential certificate (PRC), ration card, election card or authentic certification from panchayat members or village head.

The last was necessary as AAMSU claimed that at many places, the Assam government had discontinued issuing of PRC to the people.

The organisations also asked for the provision of ILPs to be made a hassale-free procedure for the convenience of Indian nationals.AAMSU Advisor Shamshul Haque also alleged that some people were taking advantage of the situation and spreading rumours to disturb the congenial relationship between the two states.

He further alleged that fake ILPs were being issued rampantly by some racketeers facilitating influx of illegal immigrants into the state, which should immediately be curbed by law-enforcing agencies.

Meanwhile, Mr Tasing informed that the drive would be launched through out the state in a phased manner and it was likely to begin at Pasighat from August 5.

UNI