Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 21 Aug: The Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF) on Saturday urged the state government to implement its fact-finding committee’s (FFC) recommendation over the “infamous Kimin’s name-pasting and changing episode.”
The AITF had constituted a seven-member FFC on the Kimin fiasco on 23 June, and the committee submitted its report to the government on 14 July.
Speaking to a local channel, AITF president Bengia Tolum informed that the report of the AITF FFC was submitted and placed before the joint consultative forum meeting of the federating CBOs on 14 July, 2021, “which had been unanimously accepted and recommended for immediate action of the state government in the greater interest of the state to protect the territorial integrity.”
Tolum informed that the AITF suggested to the government to implement its recommendation within a timeframe of six months, and urged the state government to pursue the matter with the defence ministry and other appropriate authorities of the BRO at the highest level to fix responsibility on the officers concerned of the BRO.
It also suggested to the government to constitute a committee to study and assess the matter of relocating the Kimin inner line permit check gate to the actual Assam-Arunachal interstate entry point within three months.
The forum also asked the government to adopt a state boundary management policy “for long-term solution of all the boundary affairs by strengthening the department of border affairs with manpower and resources with independent, sound budget.”
It further suggested that all bordering districts should be divided into “appropriate management zones, headed by a dedicated officer of the rank of deputy (or) joint director under the command of a full-fledged director of border affairs.”
“The border zones may be further segregated into convenient border sectors, headed by the border officer of the rank of circle officer. The CBOs need to be involved while framing border policies,” the AITF said.
It also opined that the pending cases in the Supreme Court should be pursued “by deputing a team of technical experts and legal experts on a war footing,” and asked the government to oppose the lopsided one-man Bordoloi Committee report on the Assam-Arunachal boundary.
Meanwhile, the AITF strongly opposed the draft Arunachal Pradesh marriage and inheritance of property bill and urged the government to reject the draft bill outright. “We made our stand clear and the AITF did not participate due to gross inherent flaws, discrepancies and inadequacies,” it stated in a release.
“There should be no further discussion on the issue (draft bill) from any corner as the customary laws, law of the land under the provisions of various existing acts and statutes are already in place to regulate the system of marriage, divorce and acquiring and inheritance of properties,” the AITFÂ stated, opposing the draft bill.
