[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 4 Oct: Human rights lawyer and environmental activist Ebo Mili was stopped at the Kolkata airport on Saturday by immigration officials while on his way to Dhaka to attend the Regional Infrastructure Monitoring Alliance (RIMA) conference, scheduled from 5 to 7 October in Dhaka.
Mili was stopped based on a lookout notice issued by the Arunachal Pradesh Police, which was confirmed by IGP (Law and Order) Chukhu Apa.
Mili has been vocally opposing the construction of the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, and the police have lodged several cases against him in this regard.
Speaking to this daily, Mili said he had complied with all the orders issued by the police.
“I was recently summoned by the police, and I fully complied with it. The Kolkata immigration officials told me that the state police had raised a security flag against me, and based on that, I was offloaded,” said Mili.
He said also that he had enquired with the police whether a lookout notice had been issued against him before leaving for Kolkata en route to Dhaka.
“I told the police that if any such order had been issued, I wouldn’t go, and I sought their clarification. It seems the lower-ranking officials had no idea about it. I’m very tired of this sick policy of the Arunachal police,” said Mili.
In a similar incident last month, legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum, Bhanu Tatak, was stopped at the Delhi airport based on a lookout notice issued by the state police. Tatak was on her way to Dublin to take part in a three-month-long fellowship offered by the Dublin City University, as a ‘visiting specialist’.
