AIZAWL, Aug 17 - The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), the apex students� body of the State, today conducted a drive against non-tribal people who were staying in the State or running businesses without permits and handed them over to the authorities concerned.
MZP members carried out surprise �checking� of non-tribals here and discovered that many of them did not possess inner line permits (ILPs) required for non-tribals to enter or stay in Mizoram. Some of them did not find their names in the draft NRC published recently in Assam which, according to the MZP, suggests that they are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The MZP activists also rounded up a number of benami traders operating under local names.
An MZP press release said that such a large number of illegal settlers and traders being apprehended in just one day indicates that a sizeable number of illegal settlers live in Mizoram.
The MZP has expressed fear that a large number of Bangladesh immigrants, who did not find their names in the draft NRC of Assam, would try to enter Mizoram, and stressed the need to beef up security along the Assam-Mizoram border. It also urged the authorities concerned to strictly enforce the ILP system to check the influx of foreigners into Mizoram.
�We urge the authorities not to issue ILP to anyone whose name is not in the (draft) NRC list (of Assam),� the MZP said.
