The CDFI intervened with the Council of Tiprasa Hoda to clarify about its memorandum dated 4th July 2021 titled “incessant flow of foreign nationals Chakma Bangladeshi and creating hindrances to the lives and livelihood of the locals”, to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The CDFI stated
First, Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) of Bangladesh is not only the homeland of the Chakmas but 13 tribes including the Tripuris. The Chakmas do not even constitute 50% of the total tribal population in the CHTs.
Second, the population of the Tripuris in the CHTs is around 3,00,000 (three lakhs). Well-known Tripuri leaders in the CHTs, Bangladesh include former Member of Parliament Shri Jatindralal Tripura, current Member of Parliament Shri Kujendralal Tripura, academic Prof. Prashanta Tripura and civil servant Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura who served as the Secretary to the CHTs Affairs Ministry, Government of Bangladesh.
Third, the government of Bangladesh is NOT ONLY targeting the Chakmas but also the Tripuris, Mogs and other tribes as well as the religious minorities. Please find attached the press statement issued by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Citizens’ Committee on 22 June 2021 against grabbing of the lands of Mr Soneranjan Tripura at Sindhukchari, Mahalchari Mouza, Khagrachari district bordering Tripura State as ANNEXURE-1.
Indeed, as per a report published by Aajker Fariyaad dated 12 July 2021 alleged that students identified as foreigners are Kharendra Tripura, Likha Tripura and Chahila Tripura.
Fourth, if at all, minorities are fleeing, they belong to all tribal communities and not only the Chakmas and minority religious groups including the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists.
The Government of India has taken cognizance of the persecution of the religious minorities including in Bangladesh.
In this regard, the Government of India issued gazette notification No. G.S.R.686(E) dated 7th September 2015 effectively declaring that “persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014 (a) without valid documents including passport or other travel documents and who have been exempted under rule 4 from the provisions of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950, made under section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 (34 of 1920); or (b) with valid documents including passport or other travel document and the validity of any of such documents has expired” are not foreigners for having been granted exemption from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946. Therefore, whether Chakma/Mog (Buddhists) or Tripuris, if they have fled to India before 31st December 2014, they are not foreigners.
Indeed, based on this notification, the Supreme Court of India today i.e. 14.07.2021 stayed the proceedings with respect to identification of a Hindu minority as a foreigner in Assam by the Guwahati High Court.
The CDFI asserted that unlike a few tribes in other States of the North East, Chakmas and Tripuris shared cordial relations for centuries and peacefully inhabited both the CHTs and Tripura. Both the communities have been affected by events beyond their control i.e. partition of India.
It is our sincere and fervent appeal to your organisation to maintain the same historic cordial relations between the two communities. And if any foreigner is to be identified as per the law, a foreigner should be identified based on his “nationality” and not “ethnicity” or “religion” or “language”. A foreigner is a foreigner whether he or she is a Tripuri, Chakma, Bengali, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.
We have been delighted by the fact that the decision of the Government of Tripura to permanently settle about 35,000 Brus from Mizoram. As an India organisation of the Chakmas, it would have been our preference for the return of the Brus with dignity and safety to Mizoram where we have lived side by side from time immemorial with complete harmony. Once again, there are events that are beyond our control and these forced the Brus to settle permanently in Tripura. We nonetheless appreciate the graciousness of the people of Tripura.
It is pertinent to mention that Brus like the Chakmas were alleged to be foreigners in Mizoram. This is despite the fact that “according to Chin community leaders and long-time residents of Mizoram, the Chin population in Mizoram is estimated to be as high as 100,000, about 20 percent of the total Chin population in Chin State” as per the report, “The Chin People of Burma: Unsafe in Burma, Unprotected in India” published by the Human Rights Watch on 28 January 2009 while another 10,000 Chins including the Chief Minister of Chinland in Mizoram have sought refuge since 1 February 2021. The Chakmas and the Brus have lived in present-day Mizoram from time immemorial and the populations of the Chin refugees in Mizoram is more than the population of the Chakmas as well as the Brus.
“The Chin People of Burma: Unsafe in Burma, Unprotected in India” published by the Human Rights Watch on 28 January 2009 is available at
It is a fact that around 11.3 million Hindus were compelled to flee East Pakistan Bangladesh due to religious persecution from 1964 to 2013. However, we have never heard any Bengali Hindu ever complaining about the influx of foreigners in Tripura or other parts of India.