Why Chakmas Observe August 17 as Black Day – The Wire

Agartala: The people of the Chakma community living in parts of Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh observe August 17 as Black Day every year, in protest against the decision to give the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region to what is present day Bangladesh, during Partition.

Who are Chakmas?

Chakmas are one of the largest ethnic groups living in the easternmost area of India and are native to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of southeastern Bangladesh. The people of the Chakma tribe also live in various states of the Northeast, including Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. They are predominantly Buddhists.

At least 10 ethnic minorities including Chakma, Marma, Tipperas, Chak, Murung, Khumi, Lushai, Bowm, Pankho and Mog live in the CHT. The area spreads across 5,138 square miles and is bound on the north by Tripura, Arakan Hills of Myanmar on the south, Lushai Hills of Mizoram and Arakan Hills of Myanmar on the east and by Chittagong district on the west.

Also read: In Illustrations: The Story of the Chakmas

Since 2016, Chakma people have observed August 17 as Black Day. According to Chakma National Council of India (CNCI), Chakmas mourn the day of August 17, 1947, when the CHT region was awarded to then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The decision to include the region as part of Pakistan was announced only two days after India won freedom.

The CNCI was established in the year 2014, to address the problems of Chakmas nationally and internationally. In their first convention held in 2016 in Guwahati, the CNCI workers had decided to observe August 17 as Black Day.

The Chakma community observing August 17 as a Black Day in Tripura. Photo: author provided.

Aniruddha Chakma, vice-president of the CNCI Tripura explained that when the British colonial government finally acceded to the demand of giving independence to India and Pakistan on the basis of the theory that Muslim majority areas would fall in Pakistan and non-Muslim majority areas would be part of India. The CHT region of then undivided India should have been a part of India as it was predominantly a non-Muslim populated area, comprising over 98.5% ethnic hill tribes where the Chakmas were regarded as the majority.

Though the people of CHT and its leaders protested vehemently against this unjust decision and its leaders made every possible effort to bring back CHT to India, Indian leaders were not proactive. Thus, the CNCIs efforts and initiative is to make people aware that Chakmas have been one of the worst victims of partition, which made them stateless and one of the most discriminated and persecuted races on the globe, Aniruddha told The Wire.

He further said, It is noteworthy to mention that the Chakmas of CHT in anticipation of the merger of CHT with India hoisted the tricolour on August 15, 1947 for seven days at the district headquarter of Rangamati, till the Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army pulled it down on August 21, 1947.

He said that many pro-Indian Chakma nationalist leaders had to flee the CHT region due to their loyalty to India.

The Chakma leaders made every effort to merge CHT with India and for that our leaders Lieutenant Sneha Kumar Chakma and Lieutenant Kamini Mohan Dewan made several trips to New Delhi to meet national leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, to convince them to merge the CHT with India, he said, adding that during Independence, at least 98.5% of the region was inhabited by Buddhist and Hindu communities. However, it was still declared Pakistan territory by the Boundary Commission led by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.

Also read: India Needs a Proper Refugee Law, Not a CAA Suffused With Discriminatory Intent

Oppression against Chakmas

Seven decades since Independence, the Jumma tribes an umbrella community comprising 11 tribal clans of CHT, including Chakmas allege that they face oppression from security forces, political factions and land grabbers.

We are loyal to India. We wanted to merge with India at the time when East Pakistan was formed, he said.

Our community is facing oppression continuously. Security personnel keep disturbing them. Chakmas are caught between clashes of political factions like Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti, United Peoples Democratic Front and others. Land grabbing is happening at the hands of settlers.

Aniruddha said the CNCI has appealed to the International Court of Justice to look into the matter.

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Why Chakmas Observe August 17 as Black Day - The Wire