Stop projecting Chakmas as criminals: Chakma Council tells CM Pema Khandu

The CNCI leader, in a statement issued from New Delhi also asked CM Khandu to stand by his oath of “raj dharma” and said that members of the Chakma community were the “most peaceful” people. “Had the chief minister stood by his oath of Raj Dharma, he would have easily seen that the Chakma community has been one of the most peaceful and peace-loving communities in the country,” the CNCI statement said.

The CNCI statement came in response after Khandu on Wednesday said that while the Tibetan refugees were peacefully co-existing with the local people of Arunachal Pradesh,the Chakma and Hajong refugees were creating law and  order problems.

“Unlike other refugees like the Chakma and Hajongs who are seeking citizenship and other rights and creating law and order problems and their numbers are increasing, the Tibetans are peace-loving and law-abiding people and have been peacefully co-existing with locals,” Khandu had said in the state assembly in Itanagar on Wednesday.

Dismissing Khandu’s claim that the Chakma population was increasing, the CNCI vice-president said the Chakmas constituted just around three per cent of Arunachal Pradesh’s total population.

“It will be foolish to reason that three per cent of Chakmas can change the demographics of the state. It would be unwise if the Chief Minister failed to catch the true vein of what the people of Arunachal Pradesh want. Peace and prosperity are what the people want, and therefore the Chief Minister and other vested interest parties should let the Chakmas become a contributing partner for a developed and progressive Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCHAP) and Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students’ Union (APCSU) have alleged that instead of worrying about the population of Chakmas, Khandu should look at how the non-tribal population was increasing in the state.

“A population of 47,471 Chakmas and Hajongs as per the 2011 Census cannot pose any threat to 14 lakh people of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chakmas and Hajongs are tribals, belong to the Tibeto-Mongloid race and are Buddhists like many other communities of the state. If any community is posing a threat to local tribals of Arunachal Pradesh, it is the other non-tribals whose number has increased from 36,614 persons in 1961 to 3,84,435 persons in 2011,” CCRCHAP president Subimal Bikash Chakma, in a statement said.