“Racial profiling of 65,000 Chakma and Hajong tribes” backs the notification of rights to the Ministry of Interior.
Guwahati:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government of Arunachal Pradesh have been asked by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to prepare a report within six weeks against the alleged racial profiling of members of the Chakma and Hajongs tribes and their displacement from the state.
The NHRC has also instructed both the center and the government of Arunachal to “ensure that the human rights of the Chakma and Hajong tribes are protected in every possible way”.
In response to a complaint filed by the Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI), NHRC Deputy Registrar KK Shrivastava wrote a letter, accessed by DailyExpertNews, to the Union’s Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary on Monday. of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
The CDFI previously wrote to the NHRC asking for action from the rights agency against “racial profiling of 65,000 Chakma and Hajong tribes of Arunachal Pradesh through illegal census for their deportation or expulsion or displacement from the state”.
The CDFI claimed in a statement Tuesday that of the 65,000 Chakma and Hajong tribes, about 60,500 are citizens by birth, thousands who vote, while the citizenship applications of 4,000 migrants have yet to be processed.
The NHRC had previously approached the Supreme Court in October 1995 to protect the lives and freedoms of the Chakma and Hajong tribes and on January 9, 1996, the Supreme Court had ordered the Chakma and Hajong people as citizens of India government to submit their citizenship applications. processing, the statement said.
It said that since the matter was not resolved, another petition was filed by the “Civil Rights Commission of the Chakma of Arunachal Pradesh” requesting that the Supreme Court judgment of January 9, 1996, be implemented.
On September 17, 2015, the Supreme Court reiterated its injunction ordering the central and state governments to process their citizenship applications within three months.
However, no applications have been processed so far, the statement said.
The CDFI complaint to the NHRC had stated that Prime Minister Pema Khandu announced on August 15 last year that the Chakma and Hajong tribes would be relocated outside the state and this was confirmed by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.
“In order to implement the plan of the state government, the Changlang District Deputy Commissioner announced on Nov. 26 that a “2021 Chakma and Hajong Tribe census” will be conducted in all the inhabited areas of Chakma and Hajong that fall under its jurisdiction for reporting to the government and that is an act of racial profiling,” the CDFI said.
The statement said that instead of complying with Supreme Court rulings, the state government had begun racial profiling, while the Union law secretary had repeatedly advocated forced relocation to other states.
