HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, July 30: The Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) on Sunday condemned All Assam Students Union (AASU) for targeting the Chakma tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. In a joint press conference on Saturday after a meeting between All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union and the AASU, Samujjal Bhattacharya, advisor of AASU, told the media, “The All Assam Students Union is extending full support to All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union for deportation of all illegal immigrant Chakmas from the soil of Arunachal Pradesh”
Suhas Chakma, founder of the CDFI responding to the statement of the AASU stated, “The Chakmas are not illegal immigrants in Arunachal Pradesh. About 14,000 Chakmas and Hajongs were settled in then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA) during 1964-1969 by the competent authority i.e. Union of India, with the definite plan for their permanent settlement under a scheme that provided lands for each family. The scheme was developed to ensure India’s security following the 1962 Indo-China war. The children of these migrants are voting in the state assembly and parliamentary elections and are citizens of India.”
“Since 1996, the Supreme Court of India has delivered two judgments to process the citizenship applications of the Chakmas and Hajongs and shamefully, not a single application has been processed as on date. The AASU should talk about the rule of law instead of singling out a particular tribal community,’ stated Chakma.
Chakma also stated, “The population of the Chakmas and Hajongs is about 65,000 at present and their population growth rate is lower than the growth rate of other communities in the State. If there are illegal immigrants in Arunachal Pradesh, they do not belong to any particular community. Arunachal Pradesh shares borders with Myanmar and China and not Bangladesh. To target the Chakmas as illegal immigrant only is nothing but xenophobia which is burning the North Eastern region. It appears that the lessons of the riots in Manipur are not being learnt.”
