Shillong, March 2: Stating that the demand for implementation of Inner Line Permit in the state is not anti-national, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said, Inner Line Permit is one of the mechanisms to strengthen the identity of the Tribal population.

Reacting to a statement made by the Khasi Students Union (KSU) asking the Centre to give Meghalaya its independence if demand for implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) is “anti-national”, Prestone said, “The demand for ILP is not anti-National that is true. Be the Assembly, be the state Government, be the NGOs what we say….. we want ILP.”

“We want ILP means one of the instruments, one of the mechanism may be to strengthen the identity of the tribal population within the state. I don’t see any kind of anti-national thing demanding ILP,” the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Asked about the delay in implementation of ILP in the state, he said, “From the Government, we also follow it up very seriously, when we went to Delhi last time also we met the Union home minister and now we are waiting for him to come this month because he has already promised us. “

It may be mentioned that the State Government as well as the organizations have submitted memorandums to Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to Shillong. Earlier this month the State Government delegation led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma also visited Delhi to appraise the Union Home Minister about the demand.

Amit Shah, however, assured the delegation that he will visit the state in March to discuss the issue.