CHAKMA AND HAJONG

Jan. 31, 2019

People in Arunachal Pradesh are protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 as they argue that the bill would serve as a legal basis for legitimising the claims of Chakma and Hajong refugees as the indigenous people of their State.

About:

The Chakmas and Hajongs are ethnic people. Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists; Hajongs are Hindus.
They were inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who migrated to India due to –
- Submergence of their land by the Kaptai dam on the Karnaphuli River in the 1960s.
- religious persecution they faced in East Pakistan as they were non-Muslims.
The Indian government set up relief camps in Arunachal Pradesh and a majority of them continue to live there even after 50 years.
An estimated 1 lakh Chakma and Hajong refugees are staying in India. When they came in 1964, there were about 15,000 Chakmas and about 2,000 Hajongs.