Abstract:
The study attempts to investigate and analyze how the creation of post colonial borders
impact the political status and identity construction of people crossing the borders and in
the process how do these communities perceive the ideas of citizenship. The study is
based in South Asia, making of its post colonial borders, resulting in sparking issues of
majority and minority; native and settler; insider and outsider. This process resulted in
large numbers of minority groups who were compelled to leave their countries of origin
and they were neither accepted as citizens in the country of origin nor in their country of
residence. Thus, many lingered as stateless people with no political status nor any rights
and benefits. One such community is the Chakmas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts who
migrated to India from East Pakistan due to religious persecutions and submergence of
their arable land due to construction of Kaptai Hydel Dam. The Chakmas make
continuous efforts to determine their status, rights and identity. In 1964, a large number
of Chakma people migrated to India and were resettled by the Union Government of
India in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chakmas are still claiming for their political
status, rights and identity even after more than six decades of their migration from
Chittagong Hill Tracts (part of erstwhile East Pakistan) to India and resettlement in then
Northeast Frontier Agency (NEFA). The various demands of citizenship claims made by
the Chakmas, role of various Chakma organizations, responses of the state will be
discussed in the study. The study analyses both the claims of the incoming community
and the responses of the receiving community, particularly the contesting claims by
political organizations like the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU). The
study concludes with discussion on the responses of the governments, both the Union and
the State and the Judiciary on the issue of the Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh.
