Chakma Rulers turns to refugees

Brief note on the Chakmas

I. origin: The Chakmas forms part of the great Tibeto-Burman language family. Regrettably, there is no authentic record of the origin of the Chakmas. It is popularly believed that they have, several centuries ago, migrated from Arakan hills of Burma to the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. It is noteworthy to mention that the Chakmas ruled the CHTs which at that time also consisted of a part of the Lushai hills, present day Mizoram. 
II. Partition of India: Injustice done to the Chakmas During Partition (14 August 1947),India was divided on the religious line. Muslim-majority areas went to form Pakistan. Surprisingly, Chakma- dominated Chittagong Hill Tracts of present day Bangladesh formed part of Pakistan even though Muslims were only meager 2 %. The Chakmas are Buddhists and wanted to remain as part of India, where they thought their future would be more secure and independent. The Partition axed the Chakma’s destiny.The Chakmas have been patriots. They fought against the British, and did not allow the conquerors to conquer them.

Following the Partition, they were celebrating the Independence Day on 15 August 1947 by unfurling the Indian tricolour in Rangamati, the main town of CHT. It was pity that they did not even know they were already Pakistanis, much against their own will. No wonder, the Pakistani troops immediately pull down the Indian flag and made a few Chakmas captive. The Chakmas could not give a united stand against the injustice done. Indian government remained mum. It did not recognize the Chakmas’ contributions and sacrifices during the freedom movement. It did not respect their aspirations and dreams either. 

III. Persecution under Pakistan and Bangladesh rule Given the communal division between India and Pakistan, that the Buddhist Chakmas would be persecuted in Muslim Pakistan was a foregone conclusion. Chakmas were brutally killed, tortured, attacked and their women folk raped under the Pakistan rule. In 1964, the Kaptai Dam reservoir was built that submerged around 44% of the CHT’s agricultural lands and made tens of thousand Chakmas homeless and foodless.

Those displaced were neither rehabilitated nor compensated nor treated well. Thousands became IDPs and refugees. In 1971, Bangladesh was liberated with India’s help. But that did not bring any change in the policy of the Muslim government towards the Chakmas. With active participation of the Bangladesh military, the Chakmas were attacked, massacred, kidnapped, and raped and their houses burned. There was no reprieve, no mercy. The precarious situation of the Chakmas of Bangladesh could be summarized in a line – “Life is not ours”, they say. The Chakmas have turned from rulers to refugees.In 1964, around 30,000 indigenous Chakmas displaced by the Kaptai Hydro-Electric dam in CHT of then East Pakistan migrated to India. They were given settlement by the government ofIndiain the North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA), the present Arunachal Pradesh, after consultation with the local tribal chiefs. While being shifted to the NEFA,

Government of India issued valid migration certificates to the migrants and assured them of citizenship rights in due course.“They came in a hopeless, pathetic condition, just with the clothes that they wore” recalls one senior Mizoram official, who was part of the Assam government team that received the Chakma in the Cachar and Lushai hills.

IV. The present crisis but the conditions didnot improve in India. 

Arunachal Pradesh, India between 1964 and 1969, about 30,000 Chakma and Hajong tribals had migrated to India from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and were rehabilitated by the Government of India in the then North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh. Their present population is stated to be around 70,000.The Chakma tribals did not face any trouble when Arunachal Pradesh was a Union territory and they were getting every facility that was available for an Indian citizen. Only after 1979, when Arunachal Pradesh was given State status, Chakmas were harassed and treated as refugees. Since 1980, no Chakma has been given employment in the state. Government of Arunachal Pradesh vide their circular CS/PR-154/89/99, had banned the issue of ration cards to Chakmas and Hajongs of Changlang district. Again in 1994, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh asked them to surrender all the ration cards.The AAPSU activists regularly harassed the Chakmas and burned schools, houses,and denied them medical facilities. Even some of them died out of hunger. Since 1991, the Chakmas and Hajongs have been fighting for citizenship rights under the leadership of the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCAP). On 9 January 1996, the Supreme Court of India in its historic judgement in the case of National Human Rights Commission Vs State of Arunachal Pradesh and Anr (Civil Writ Petition 720 of 1995) directed the State government of Arunachal Pradesh to process the citizenship applications of those who migrated between 1964 and 1969 and directed to protect the life and personal liberty of each and every Chakma residing within the State of Arunachal Pradesh.

(Access SC’s judgment here http://www.aitpn.org/StatelessIPs/SCjudgement.pdf ) National Human

Rights Commission (NHRC) of India had moved the Supreme Court. The Delhi High Court in its judgment of 28 September 2000 (CPR no. 886 of 2000) directed the authorities to enroll all eligible Chakma and Hajong voters into the electoral rolls.

(Read the judgment here: http://www.aitpn.org/StatelessIPs/DelhiHCjudgement.pdf ) But the State Government and its agencies including the State Election Commission have been bias and discriminatory towards the Chakmas. The question is “how long”? Further reports on human rights violations of Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh: Asian Centre for Human Rights,New Delhi: http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR07/arunachal.htm#_Toc166925350b. On 17 September 2015 The Supreme Court of India directed the Central and state government to process the citizenship of the migrated Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh within 3 months. But the process is yet not complete. Meanwhile AAPSU (All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union) distracting the state government with their baseless campaigns.
Mizoram, India

 The Census of India 2001 put the Chakmas’ total population at 71,283 in Mizoram, and constituted the second largest tribal community in the state with 8.5% – only next to the Mizos who constituted 77%.The Chakmas have distinct culture, dress, language and follow Buddhism while Mizoram is a Christian majority state (90.5% are Christians). The Chakmas face discrimination in all spheres of life for being “different”. The Chakmas are the original native of their places living there since before British came to India ( not like the Mizos who are said to be migrated from the European Countries). They live in a contiguous belt along Indo-Bangladesh border, covering the three districts of Mizoram, namely Mamit, Lunglei and Lawngthlai. Though the Chakma population has been inhabiting this contiguous area of Mizoram, they have been under four separate Administrative units, namely, Mamit district, Lunglei district, Chakma Autonomous District Council and the Lai Autonomous District Council. As a result, the cultural, social and political unity oft the Chakmas has been disrupted leading, to gross under- development of Chakmas inhabited areas. The Chakmas gained the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) in 1972 to protect and promote their distinct culture and identity and freely choose their own political, social and economic goals. But the District Council covers only one-third of the Chakma population in the state. The Chakmas living outside the District Council (including Sajek Valley area) are subject to regular harassment and discrimination by the State government in various forms. Moreover, the state government has been conspiring to dissolve the CADC by hook or by crook. Life is no less painful in Sajek area of Mizoram. The Chakmas have been living in acute poverty and without access to basic healthcare, education and infrastructure such as roads, electricity connectivity. Most Chakma household is engaged in traditional Jhum cultivation. As forest cover is diminished and production scanty, another name for life has become “struggle for survival”. Hundreds have already been deleted from voters list arbitrarily. Although Mizoram’s overall literacy is 88.49%, the rate of illiteracy of the Chakmas is very high. According to Census of India 2001, the Chakmas are the most illiterate community in Mizoram.
A large Number of Chakma can be found in Tripura and some in 3 district of Assam mainly Karbi Anglong, Nagaon and Kamrup. The economicalcondition of Chakmas in Karbi Anglong must worst then the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh. Thought Assam government gave them the citizen status of its state.