AAPSU files PIL against Chakmas

Students’ union files PIL against Chakmas, Telegraph, India, 11 June 2009

A STAFF REPORTER

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090611/jsp/northeast/story_11090637.jsp

Guwahati, June 10: The All Arunachal Pradesh Student Union (AAPSU) has filed a PIL in Gauhati High Court terming the Election Commission’s guidelines to include the names of Chakma refugees in the electoral roll for the Lok Sabha elections as illegal.

They also demanded re-election in the constituencies dominated by Chakmas.

The PIL stated that the Election Commission has tried to include not only the names of those refugees who had entered India in 1964-65 and their descendants, but also those who have come thereafter to the state.

The students’ union has also questioned the Dorjee Khandu-led state government’s silence over the matter and accused it of clandestinely trying to help the Chakmas.

The apex students’ organisation of Arunachal Pradesh stated in the PIL filed yesterday that anyone who is found to have entered the state without valid inner line permit cannot be allowed to be a voter in any election.

The people of Arunachal Pradesh have long been protesting against the attempt to include the names of Chakmas — refugees from Bangladesh who migrated to India in 1964-65 — in the electoral rolls.

The Chakmas, on their part, approached the Supreme Court, which directed that no action shall be taken against the community and that both the Union and the state governments shall ensure that the lives and property of Chakmas remain safe.

The PIL challenged the legality and validity of various guidelines issued by the Election Commission in respect of the revision of electoral rolls in the state.

“The guidelines are in violation of not only relevant provisions of the Constitution but also the Representation of the Peoples Act,” the student’s organisation stated in the PIL.

The organisation also stated that though the state governments in the past had taken a strong stand against inclusion of names of Chakmas in the electoral roll, it was surprising that the present government has done nothing.

“The attitude of the state government is causing a lot of resentment among the indigenous people of the state,” the PIL stated.