Chakmas: Human trafficking is rampant in the Chakma community of Arunachal Pradesh …

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu's statement on shifting the state's Chakma refugees to other parts of India has sparked tension. The Chakmas, a Buddhist ethnic group with a rich cultural heritage, originally hailed from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and entered India in 1964 through Tripura and Mizoram. They were displaced when the erstwhile East Pakistan government commissioned the Kaptai Dam on the Karnaphuli River. After partition, the community was subjected to constant harassment by the Pakistani authorities as they demanded that the territory they captured remain part of India.

In 1964, when the Chakma refugees displaced by the dam entered India, the Indian government settled their group in the Tirap Valley of the then North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now known as Arunachal Pradesh.

Since Arunachal Pradesh gained statehood in 1987, the Chakmas have been subjected to constant persecution by local tribes. The Indian government decided to grant them citizenship in 1972 and even though the Supreme Court of India in 2015 directed the state government to provide them with citizenship rights, the state of Arunachal Pradesh has ignored all such orders.

As the Chakma community has no rights in India, the police have no record of any cases of trafficking of Chakma children. Reports suggest that thousands of children are being trafficked in the Chakmas, which have a population of less than one lakh.

Arunachal Pradesh's Changlong, Namsai and Papam Pare districts have a large number of missing children from the Chakma community, while almost every household in Aranyapura, Udaipur, Dharmapura, Moodoidweep and Dumpani villages in Deon Circle of Changlong district has lost a child to human trafficking. Some children were eventually found and rescued from the brutality of slavery and abuse, but many children remain missing.

Child trafficking on the rise

To take an example of child trafficking, 13-year-old Ritu Chakma of Jyotipura village was human trafficked, but her parents took her away after promising her daughter a better future.

However, she was captured and sexually assaulted. Fortunately, police and child welfare center staff rescued her on a complaint lodged by a stranger and she is now back home.

Her father Arun Kumar Chakma, who works as a daily wage labourer, is saddened that he did not know that his daughter would become a victim of the human trafficking network.

Arun says he sent his daughter to Namsai with a man he knew, who promised her a job. Arun Kumar, who has to raise six children, lamented that it is difficult to raise children by working daily.

Arun Kumar, who belongs to the Chakma community, is deprived of citizenship rights, thus Arun Kumar Chakma and his family do not have the benefits of Public Distribution System ration, Atal Amrit Abhiyan Health Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Housing Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Chakma villages are still deprived of electricity and water supply. No one from the Chakma community of Arunachal Pradesh can become a member of the Gram Panchayat (village council) or vote in any election.

The Dihing river flowing through these districts causes floods every year, making the condition of the Chakma even more miserable. Since 1971, thousands of Chakma people from the villages of Moitripur, Gautampur, Shantipura, Dumpani, Udaipur, Mudoidweep and Aranyapura have been displaced by the erosion caused by the Dihing River due to heavy erosion caused by floods.

There is only one well for 200 houses in Aranyapura village and women are walking five to 10 km daily to fetch water. In 1994, the state's apathy towards the Chakmas became evident when a malaria epidemic ravaged the region, with an average of at least one person per household dying of malaria.

12-year-old Bapu Chakma of Aranyapura village was left by his parents to a man named Gopal Chakma. They sent Bapu with Gopal on the promise that their son would earn well and take care of them.

But after a few days, Bapu died under mysterious circumstances. His family was not informed of his death. The anti-trafficking unit of the Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students Union (APCSU) came to know that Bapu's family was involved in the trafficking of their son.

Deteriorating conditions

Poorna Kumar Chakma, 78, when he was 15 years old, left the Chittagong hills on the night of April 13, 1964, with a group of about 20 to 25 families after their village was submerged by the Kaptai Dam.

These families, who entered India through the Tripura border, recall that a month later they entered NEFA, the northeastern frontier regions, by train from Assam's Karimganj. The then Assistant Political Officer, U. Chakma offered shelter to the refugees and settled them in Changlong district which is mostly densely populated and full of dense forests.

The Chakma Students Association of Arunachal Pradesh said that despite knowing the names of the smugglers and reporting them to the police, no action was taken. The sect laments that the police have no responsibility to take action against traffickers as the community does not have basic citizenship rights.