The Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) has opposed extending the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to the Mising community, even as it reaffirmed support for ILP as a safeguard for Arunachal Pradesh’s indigenous tribes.

TMPK President Tilak Doley, in a statement circulated on social media, said the organisation has always backed measures to protect indigenous identity and rights. Yet, he argued, applying ILP to the Misings ignores the community’s distinct historical and cultural relationship with the state.

Doley said calls from some sections, especially younger voices, to bring Misings under the ILP regime fail to account for longstanding connections with Arunachal Pradesh.

He underlined the Mising people’s deep historical, cultural and linguistic bonds with tribes such as the Nyishi, Adi, Galo, Apatani and Tagin. All broadly belong to the Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic family, and Misings had strong links with the region long before their migration to the Assam plains.

Doley noted that Mising residents still live in East Siang, Lower Siang, Namsai and Papum Pare districts. Given this uninterrupted presence, he called demands to subject the community to ILP “unnecessary and unfortunate”.

He added that Mising ties with Arunachal predate the British era ILP framework introduced under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The TMPK chief also raised concern over opposition to Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) for eligible Mising residents of the state.

“The Mising people are not seeking any special privilege or dominance in Arunachal Pradesh,” Doley said. “But considering our historical roots and longstanding relationship with the state, we cannot accept the imposition of ILP on the Mising community.”