The delegation of Chakma refugees met Union Minister Jitendra Singh.

A delegation of Chakma refugees, who had migrated to India five decades ago from Bangladesh, today met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and sought his intervention for granting citizenship to them.The delegation, under the aegis of All India Chakma Social Forum conveyed to the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) that the community had been denied citizenship rights for the last almost half a century and sought his intervention in this regard.In a memorandum, the Chakmas told Mr Singh that during the period from 1964-68, around 15,000 Chakmas had fled from the Chittagong Hill tracts of the then East Pakistan to escape the oppression of Pakistani rulers.After migration to India, they settled in the then Northeastern Front Agency (NEFA), currently Arunachal Pradesh. However, since then not a single Chakma migrant in Arunachal Pradesh has been granted citizenship rights despite specific directions of the Supreme Court of India, the delegation claimed.Later, following another writ petition, the Supreme Court in its judgment dated September 17 directed the Union of India and the Arunachal Pradesh government to process the citizenship applications.The memorandum also alleged that not a single application of any Chakma migrant had been recommended for grant of citizenship in spite of the applications fulfilling the criteria for the citizenship.As a result, according to the delegation, the Chakmas cannot move out of their villages because of lack of identity proof which is necessary and is indispensable in the context of current security scenario.

Seeking intervention of the minister, the signatories to the memorandum requested him for designating two special officers in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to address the issues raised by them and ensure early redressal.The minister gave a patient hearing to the delegation and said that he would forward their case to the MHA and seek its views on the issue, an official release said.