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Indigenous Peoples Denied Their Right to Franchise

The Indian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken a significant step in trying to resolve a "citizenship crisis" for indigenous peoples in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The NHRC has appointed Mr. Sankar Sen as a Special Representative to Arunachal Pradesh in order to rectify continued attempts at physical expulsion and the denial of citizenship rights of Chakma and Hajong people. Mr. Sen is to be accompanied by Mr. A. Chakravarthy from the Investigation Wing of the NHRC. These practices, which are the subject of the Special Representative's intervention, directly implicate the State Government and are taking place in direct defiance of a recent Supreme Court decision.

On 9 January 1996, the Supreme Court of India decided the case of National Human Rights Commission v State of Arunachal Pradesh, a judgement which should have constituted a significant advance for the rights of indigenous peoples in Arunachal Pradesh. The Court's decision was meant to preclude the attempted en masse expulsion of the Chakmas and Hajongs by the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh and organised civilian groups such as the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU). The Court's decision included three mandates: the end to illegal evictions of Chakmas and Hajongs from their homes; the protection--by paramilitary means if necessary--of Chakmas and Hajongs from threats by citizen groups; and the termination of any substantive role for local administrators in deciding the citizenship status of Chakmas and Hajongs. Despite the apparent legal force of the Supreme Court's ruling, few concrete steps have been taken to implement the Court's directives. The NHRC's creation of a Special Representative to monitor the implementation of the Court's judgement is meant to reverse this problem.

Special Representative Sen will hopefully be able to end more than three decades of institutionalised exclusion of the Chakmas and Hajongs by the national and state Government. In 1964, about 40,000 Chakmas were displaced from their homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The Chakmas sought safety and shelter in India and were soon followed by about 2,500 Hajongs from the Meymonsingh district of East Pakistan. After consulting with the local Arunachalese tribal leaders, the Indian Government settled the Chakmas and Hajongs in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Since their resettlement, however, the Chakmas and Hajongs have been illegally denied Indian citizenship and systematically deprived of other fundamental rights.

State officials are clearly acting in violation of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955. The Act is unequivocal regarding the citizenship status of Chakma and Hajong people born after their family's migration and before 1 July 1987. Section 3(1)(a) of the Act grants "[c]itizenship by birth" to "every person born in India, on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the commencement of Citizenship Amendment Act, 1986." The 1996 Supreme Court decision itself was predicated on this understanding of the legislation. Furthermore, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has affirmed, before both the National Human Rights Commission and the Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions, that those Chakmas and Hajongs who are born after their migration and before 1 July 1987 are citizens by birth. Yet in spite of such explicit statements and the Supreme Court's ruling, the Ministry of Home Affairs has failed to take the concrete actions necessary to uphold such rights in practice.

On 12 January 1999, the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCAP)--the representative organisation of the Chakmas and Hajongs--petitioned Home Minister L. K. Advani to intervene immediately and direct the Election Commission of India to include in the electoral rolls those Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh who are citizens by birth. The CCRCAP requested that the Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunachal Pradesh be issued Electoral Identity Cards at the time of their enrolment. The organisation also requested that the process be completed within a certain period of time and supervised by an officer from New Delhi in order to forestall any delay tactics by State Government officials.

On 11 February 1999, the Election Commission of India ordered special revision of electoral rolls across India including Arunachal Pradesh. When a CCRCAP delegation met with officials of the Election Commission of India, however, the officials claimed that they had received no specific instruction from the Ministry of Home Affairs to enrol members of the groups. The Election Commission officials also said they could not act on the basis of statements made by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the National Human Rights Commission, in which the Ministry explicitly recognised the citizenship of Chakmas and Hajongs under the Citizenship Act. In May 1999, when the Chakmas and Hajongs approached the Electoral Registration Office in Arunachal Pradesh to submit their claims and objections to their exclusion, the local officials refused to accept their petitions.

The Chakmas and Hajongs have also faced more than nineteen years of institutionalised discrimination, first under the administration of Gegong Apang, whose rule ended five months ago, and now under the rule of his successor, Mukut Mithi. After coming to power in 1980, Apang banned Chakmas and Hajongs from government jobs. In the 1990s, as his hold on the post of Chief Minister was increasingly threatened, Apang made use of the Chakma issue to stir public hostility and scuttle criticism by his opposition. Through several administrative orders, Apang removed ration cards and trade licenses from Chakmas and Hajongs, withdrew their school facilities and hospitals, and allowed the members of the AAPSU to operate against them with impunity. Apang also mobilised the political parties to demand expulsion of the Chakmas and Hajongs from the State. In the face of the State Government's consistent flouting of NHRC directives, the NHRC approached the Supreme Court of India on 2 November 1995 to protect the lives and liberty of the Chakmas and Hajongs.

Even in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement, however, the Chakmas and Hajongs have still been subjected to intimidation, harassment, torture and other abuses. The Chakmas and Hajongs were prevented from selling their products in the market, and members of the CCRCAP were badly beaten and falsely implicated in criminal cases. In a vindictive move, the State Government officials sought to uproot the Chakmas from one locality--the Mpen--by claiming their habitat as forest area. The Deputy Commissioners--in direct defiance of an explicit Supreme Court order--have continued to refuse citizenship applications from the Chakmas. Instead, the State Government offered some Chakmas and Hajongs financial inducements to settle outside of Arunachal Pradesh.

Unfortunately, the change of leadership in Itanagar has not changed the attitude of the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh towards the Chakmas and Hajongs. The present Chief Minister, Mukut Mithi, continues to pursue his predecessor's policy of exclusion. In May 1999--now in flagrant disregard for a Supreme Court judgement--the Chief Minister called for the removal of the 65,000 Chakma and Hajongs from Arunachal Pradesh.

As the General Elections approach, political parties in the State are likely to try to use the Chakma and Hajong problem to their political advantage, with each side competing to craft a more aggressive policy. As a result, the repression is likely to increase. The appointment of a Special Representative of the NHRC to uphold the rule of law has therefore come at an important moment. Special Representative Sen will be responsible for ensuring that the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh actually implements the Supreme Court judgement. There is still a grave danger that the Chakmas and Hajongs will again find themselves shut out of the political process. The State Government of Arunachal Pradesh continues to sit on citizenship applications forwarded by the Union Government of India, and the Central Government has made no move to include the Chakmas and Hajongs in the electoral rolls. The appointment of a Special Representative, however, has given fresh hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The launch of his investigation and the results that follow should be given attention by the national and international community especially because the lives of a largely neglected and marginalised indigenous population hang in the balance.

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