ITANAGAR, 25 Apr: Stating that Chief Minister Pema Khandu during an event on 24 April spoke about resolving the Chakma-Hajong issue by relocating them outside of Arunachal Pradesh, the Chakma-Hajong JAC (CHJAC) in a press release on Tuesday said that “the Chakmas and Hajongs were already relocated to NEFA 57 years ago and would prefer to live and die in Arunachal Pradesh.”
“While the government’s intent to permanently resolve the long-pending issue is laudable, the CHJAC is against any ‘relocation’ on the false and misleading premise that the Chakmas and Hajongs were given ‘temporary shelter’ as refugees in Arunachal Pradesh,” the committee said.
It reiterated that, while the Chakmas and Hajongs came as refugees in the 1960s, “once they were accepted and permanently settled with land, government jobs, trade licences, ration cards, etc, and established their hearth and homes in NEFA, they were already recognised as de facto citizens of India.”
“Rehabilitation of Chakmas and Hajongs was already done by the government of India in consultation with the then NEFA administration and local tribal chiefs in three districts – Tirap (now Changlang), Lohit (now Namsai) and Subansiri (now Papum Pare) – under the aegis of the rehabilitation ministry during 1964-’69, when neither Arunachal Pradesh as a state nor Bangladesh as a nation was even born; so the question of relocating Chakmas and Hajongs outside Arunachal Pradesh does not arise at all, and any such misleading remark or sinister design or move will be not acceptable to the Chakma and Hajong people,” the committee said.
“What is needed is a progressive government that accommodates and empowers people of diverse race, ethnic origin and religion without any discrimination or step-motherly treatment. Political recognition of the Chakmas and Hajongs as integral partners to the wellbeing and development of Arunachal Pradesh will go a long way in removing imagined barriers and will bridge the gaps created due to denial and deprivation policies meted out to the Chakma and Hajong people,” it added.
“The CHJAC is open to any dialogue or discussion with the representatives of the union government, the state government, and the stakeholders concerned and pave the way for an authentic win-win solution that recognises and protects the rights of the Chakma-Hajong tribals without diluting the rights of the other local tribes and other communities living within the state,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) on Tuesday urged the chief minister to “not perpetuate prejudices against the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh by terming them as refugees and proposing relocating them in different states of India.”
“If Arunachal Pradesh expects other states to take a few thousand Chakmas and Hajongs, there will be call upon Arunachal Pradesh to share the burden of 1.9 million people excluded from the NRC in Assam and other states like Tripura, considering that the density of population in 2022 was 17 persons in Arunachal Pradesh, compared to 431 people per square kilometre in India,” CDFI founder Suhas Chakma said in a release.
“The chief minister must realise that deplorable economic conditions and extreme poverty have been created by the state of Arunachal Pradesh by denying all the rights and facilities to the Chakmas and Hajongs in the last 60 years.”
“Mere expression of sadness is not enough; the chief minister himself must ensure implementation of the sustainable development goals in the Chakma and Hajong inhabited areas if such extreme poverty is to be alleviated,” he said.
