Arunachal CM Pema Khandu breaks silence on Chakma-Hajong issue

CM Khandu said that the Chakma-Hajongs will be resettled in a different place as the frontier state is being protected by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act.

Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday said that he is in talks with the Centre for a permanent solution to resolve the Chakma-Hajong issue.

Briefing newspersons at the national capital, Chief Minister Khandu said that the Chakma-Hajongs will be resettled in a different place as the frontier state is being protected by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act.

Khandu said that since the BEFR is in force, any outsiders staying in the state requires an ILP. It needs to be mentioned that the Chakma-Hajongs have been settled in the state as only refugees and hence are not entitled to ILP.

Earlier on July 19, the Chakma Rights and Development Organisation (CRDO) slammed the ultimatum issued by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) to the Pema Khandu-led state government to revoke Residential Proof Certificates or RPCs allegedly given to members of the Chakma Hajong community in Arunachal’s Changlang district.

In a press statement, the CRDO labeled the allegations by AAPSU on the Chakma-Hajong community as ‘wild and unwarranted’ and claimed that Chakmas and Hajongs have been natives of the land long before Arunachal Pradesh as a state was born.

Besides, the CRDO spokesperson also claimed that hundreds of youth from the Chakma-Hajong community are serving in the Indian Army and Paramilitary forces besides others under the central government by way of the RCs and as such revocation of RPCs issued to the community would be sheer discrimination against the Chakmas and Hajongs.

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