ES Reporter 

ITANAGAR, Dec 11: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) under the banner of North-East Students Union (NESO) observed the ‘Black Day’, marking its protest against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the year 2019 at NEFA club office here on Monday.
NESO IPR Secretary, Pritam Waii Sonam told reporters that the Citizenship Amendment Bill was placed by the central government in the year 2016 and subsequently passed as an Act in the year 2019 in Lok Sabha, just before the parliamentary elections.
He said, due to the protest and series of meetings with the various political leaders, except for the BJP, the bill was later put on halt in Rajya Sabha. However, after coming into power, the BJP subsequently passed the Bill and is now known as CAA.
The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who entered India on or before 31 December, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence in India.
“It was the BJP government who brought the Act to allow the religiously persecuted people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to settle in the country. The government can dump them anywhere in the country but we the people of NE strongly oppose their settlement in our state,” he said.  
He said, since the 1971 war came to an end, there has been a high increase in illegal migrants entering the state of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya in thousands and lakhs. These illegal migrants are a threat not only to our neighbouring state Assam but to the entire NE state as well as the country.  
Therefore, the NESO demands the Indian government to construct a strong international boundary alongside Bangladesh and ensure 24x7 security by the Border Security Forces (BSF). The demand is not new to the government but has been for 15 years.
“Also, NESO demands the government of Assam to delete the voter list of those not falling under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list and accordingly deport them to their respective places,” he added.
Responding to the illegal infiltrators entering the eastern parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Sonam said that, if possible, the state government along with the Indian government should have a direct dialogue with the government of Bangladesh, and if needed, Myanmar too.
“The AAPSU and NESO is also aware of the illegal infiltration of migrants, especially in the eastern parts of the state. Both the organisations are working out to bring a permanent solution to it,” he said.
When asked about the grant of Indian citizenship by CAA to Chakma & Hajoings settled in the state, Sonam said that the indigenous people will never accept their citizenship. The AAPSU has been fighting against it for more than five decades.
He said that the central government makes an excuse of Inner Line Permit (ILP) existing in the state whenever asked to scrap the CAA. Now, the bigger question is what will be the status of the Chakma and Hajongs settled in the state. However, it is very clear that they will never be accepted as Indians by the indigenous people of the state, Sonam added.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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