ILP demand in Manipur: 5 students begin indefinite hunger strike

Hunger strikers are Oinam Suresh, Lairikyengbam Dayananda, Surjit Sagolsem, Thoudam Mukesh and Loitongbam Bidyalaxmi, all class 12 students from different Government Higher Secondary Schools

Chumthang News Service

IMPHAL/ 2015: Five school students, including a girl, on Friday launched a fast-unto-death hunger strike here to demand Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to protect indigenous people of Manipur against unchecked influx of migrants or non-locals into the state.

The campaign kicked-off this morning hours after Chief Minister announced during a function here that the new ILP Bill could not be introduced by August 15, a deadline set by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS).

Convenor of Joint Students Union of Government Higher Secondary Schools, Surjit today said the hunger strike has been launched by the five students as the Manipur Government is adopting a delaying tactics on the ILP issue.

The fast-unto-death stir started in front of the main gate of Ananda Singh Higher Secondary School, Imphal East. Sapam Robinhood, who was killed by cops during ILP agitation, was a class 11 student of this school.

The hunger strikers are Oinam Suresh, Lairikyengbam Dayananda, Surjit Sagolsem, Thoudam Mukesh and Loitongbam Bidyalaxmi, all class 12 students from different Government Higher Secondary Schools.

Bidyaluxmi is the general secretary of Ibotonsana Girls’ Higher Secondary School Students’ Union. She said the stir has been taken up as a part of the ongoing academic boycott against all Government educational institutes by the Joint Students Union.

The union recently forced all educational institutes to shut down in support of the ILP movement by public under the banner of JCILPS. All school and colleges in the valley have remained closed since August 8 last due to intensified ILP agitation. Sapam Robinhood was killed in police action that day.

Representatives of JCILPS held talks with the Government twice this week, but without major breakthroughs. A ‘public curfew,’ imposed by the Joint Committee in protest against the Government’s failure to announce its clear-cut stance on the implementation of ILP in Manipur, hit life in the valley on Friday. 

The strike which began at 4 am and ended at 4 pm was by and large peaceful.