India: fear for safety: Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunachal Pradesh

There are fears that unless the government of Arunachal Pradesh takes immediate preventive action, members of the Chakma and Hajong communities face imminent attack from groups of civilians, especially members of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) who have ordered all foreigners in the state to leave by 30 September. Faced with such threats, some 2000 Chakmas living in the Papumpare district fled to neighbouring Assam on 21 August. However, they were forced back and on 12 September the Assamese state government issued orders to “shoot at sight” any non-nationals entering the state. The Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs are displaced people from formerly East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who settled between 1964 and 1971 in what was then the North East Frontier Agency province (NEFA).

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