Aizawl, May 18: Leaders of various Mizo organisations today made a case for strengthening the inner-line permit system, which regulates the entry of visitors, and lessening the state’s dependence on labourers from outside the state. The statements were made at street-corner rallies during the course of a peaceful procession taken out by Mizoram’s apex organisation of students, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl, to mourn the murder of a tribal girl last week.
The victim, R. Lalremsiami, was reported missing on Thursday and found murdered two days later. Two non-tribal labourers were implicated in the crime.
Presidents of various NGOs, including the Young Mizo Association, the Mizoram Upa Pawl, the Mizoram Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl and the Mizo Students’ Union, spoke of the need for stringent implementation of the inner-line permit system to check the entry of illegal migrants.
Some of the other speakers exhorted the Mizo community to be self-dependant instead of lethargic. This, they said, was the best way to block employment of people from outside the state.
A resolution adopted by the organisations said non-Mizo people not possessing valid permits or staying in the state beyond the expiry of their permits should leave the state immediately.
The organisations also demanded adequate compensation for the family of the victim.
The second-hand clothes dealer in whose shop Lalremsiami was employed was arrested along with his wife last evening. The police took K. Zonunsanga and his wife Lalmuanpuii into custody because the victim’s body was found inside their warehouse.
Squirming at the prospect of graphic television images of non-Mizo residents being attacked triggering an image crisis, the Mizoram administration last night requested the media to be “selective” in its depiction of the ethnic backlash following the tribal girl’s murder.
Aizawl district magistrate C. Tawnluaia convened a meeting of government officials and representatives of the media to ostensibly debate the coverage of the incidents since Saturday. Local television channels showed footage of non-Mizo labourers being punched, kicked and hit with just about anything the assailants could lay their hands on during the mob frenzy last weekend.
The graphic pictures caused revulsion among viewers and the telecasts were cut short by the authorities that very night. Sources said the Mizoram government was mainly worried about the possibility of the National Human Rights Commission using the media reports to censure the administration.
The government said graphic details of the backlash would harm the state’s image, but a section of media representatives protested, saying the public had the right to see and read the true story.
Mizoram Journalist Association president Robert Lalchhuana said cloaking the truth in secrecy was a crime.
“This is not a matter of the state’s integrity, but one of human rights abuse. And if anyone has been a party to this, it must be brought to light, irrespective of the consequences that the Mizo community might face.”
Aizawl Doordarshan director Sailothanga Sailo, however, said the Cable TV Network Regulation Act stipulates that private television channels must not show any footage that can inflame communal passions.