HVK Archives: Battered and pushed around
Battered and pushed around - Hindustan Times
Sanjoy Hazarika
()
1 January 1996
This article is from an earlier date. It is being sent to
indicate the thinking of the author at that time
Title : Battered and pushed around
Author : Sanjoy Hazarika
Publication : Hindustan Times
Date : January 1, 1996
In 1964, East Pakistan built the Kaptai hydroelectric dam
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, ostensibly to improve the
energy and power availability in the province. It is
among the earlier cases of "development" projects causing
forced displacement in the subcontinent. The project
devastated the agricultural economy of the local people,
the Chakmas, flooded the best farming land and forced
more than 25,000 of this community to flee. They were not
even given compensation.
The destitutes left for the Lushai Hills or what is now
Mizoram because they believed they would not be able to
survive in East Pakistan. Mizo officers and others manned
relief camps that gave temporary shelter to the Chakmas
in a region infested with malaria. Later, the Government
of India settled the refugees in the sprawling tracts of
the North-East Frontier Agency, which is now Arunachal
Pradesh.
These days, there are three major populations of Chakmas
in India and all of them are under pressure. The first is
this group in Arunachal Pradesh, which is facing
intimidation and pressure from local groups and even the
Government of Chief Minister Gegong Apang has demanded
their ouster by the Centre.
The second are the 58,000 refugees from the Chittagong
Hill Tracts who fled in the wake of a Bangladesh military
crackdown against the Shanti Bahini, the guerrilla army
of the Chakmas, in the late 1980s and are still living in
refugee settlements on the Bangladesh-Tripura border.
The third group of Chakmas are to be found in the
southern belt of Mizoram where they live on the western
side of the border with the Chittagong Hill Tracts but
have a political identity of their own in the shape of a
District Council. Many of these Chakmas are Indians but
in Mizoram there has been growing concern about the sharp
rise in their numbers. This is the newest problem facing
this small and tragic community, which has been battered
and pushed from side to side for decades.
Of the State's 7,00,000 population an estimated 80,000
are Chakmas. The figure for 1981 was 39,000. The
astounding rise (more than 100 per cent) in a decade has
led to the beginnings of a political movement seeking
their ouster.
The spearhead of this movement is the Mizo Students Union
and in recent weeks, its activists have fanned out into
Chakma villages to "help" prevent Chakmas from
registering themselves on the electoral lists. In places,
according to officials, Chakmas have been assaulted and
their homes set ablaze.
To most Mizos, "foreigners" and Chakma migrants are
synonymous. They do not regard the Chins of Burma, many
of whom live in Aizawl and work in the handloom industry,
forests and in homes as well as on construction sites
across the State, as alien. Indeed, the Mizos and the
Chins are kin: they speak virtually the same language,
look alike and have relatives on either side of the
border. Seasonal movements of Chins into and out of
Mizoram is taken for granted although few Mizos migrate
to Burma, where economic conditions are tough.
The Mizo students say they want to throw the "foreign"
Chakmas out and say that most of the Chakmas in the state
are outsiders. This is strongly contested by the
Government but there is an acknowledgement that large
numbers have come into the State illegally. Yet, there is
no part of the North-East - leave aside the rest of the
country or the world - that has yet found a satisfactory
answer to the question of illegal migration. No State has
succeeded in deporting the large number of illegal
settlers that have flowed over its borders from
Bangladesh. And in this the biggest sufferers have been
Assam and Tripura.
Three issues need to be noted here with regard to the
Chakmas in Mizoram. One, they are a different ethnic
group. Two, they comprise a different religious group,
for most of them are Buddhists, while a majority of Mizos
are Christian. Three, they have been assigned a specific
autonomous district council where they are responsible
for local affairs.
The third factor is as important as the other two, which
are far more related to questions of culture and language
questions than anything else. The question of a separate
council for the Chakmas has angered Mizo opinion since
1972 when the Mizo Hills District of Assam was elevated
to the status of an Union Territory. The status change
was partly an effort by New Delhi to moderate the impact
of the 1966 insurgency led by Laldenga and the Mizo
National Front and give the Mizos some measure of
political control over their own affairs. Yet, with
regard to the Chakmas Council, Mizos felt that the Centre
- as is its wont with regard to other issues in the
North-East - went ahead without consulting them.
The result was a simmering rage that is finding
expression in the current campaign against the Chakmas.
Indeed, there is talk in Aizawl that the Opposition is
likely to move a resolution in the State Assembly to
derecognise the Chakma District Council. This could have
far-reaching repercussions, including potential violence
between Mizos and Chakmas.
What complicates matters is that the Chakmas, who
constitute a majority in five Assembly constituencies,
are regarded as a vote bank for the Congress. Shades of
Assam and the illegal migrants issue there! It is hardly
surprising that all five seats are with the Congress and
there is at least one Chakma Minister in the Lalthanhawla
Government.
What is required is a sensitive dialogue involving the
State Government, the students, Chakma leaders and
members of the Opposition that will address each other's
concerns but will not let the heat of anger, mistrust and
prejudice to return to the hills of Mizoram. Mizoram has
the rare distinction of seeing a complete end to
insurgency after the signing of an agreement between the
MNF and the Government of India in 1986 and is one of the
most peaceful places in the$country.
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