ITANAGAR, Jun 23: Contending that the state’s Chakma refugee issue deserves to be viewed through the prism of the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), particularly after the Kathan incident, the People’s Party of Arunachal has urged the state government to convene a meeting involving all political parties, CBOs and student organisations for a threadbare discussion.
Referring to the recent skirmishes between the Chakmas and indigenous Mishmis of Kathan in Lohit district, the lone regional political party in the state in its press release while categorising the issue as human rights and extending ‘complete sympathies’ with the Chakmas, has however said that solving the decades-long vexed issue is tough due to the involvement of the religion angle and the CAA factor. The issue of permanent settlement of refugees now temporarily settled in Arunachal Pradesh becomes a very dicey and tough subject since the very intent of the CAA is to ensure safety, security and hassle-free settlement of non-Muslim refugees viz. Hindus/Buddhists/Christians coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the country, the release mentioned.
“The government here is a BJP-ruled one, but the indigenous voters need the ruling government no matter what the issues are. The only way out is a sincere political will by the state government to solve it once and for all keeping in mind the interest of the future generations living here,” the party said. Drawing attention to the still-unsolved missing case of Balijan Krisiko, who has been a vocal critic of land grabbing by the Chakmas in Khatan, the PPA has questioned the efforts of the state government in cracking the mystery. “We can’t remain subdued with these unfortunate truths,” the release read. 
Meanwhile, at a time when the bulk of blame over the Kimin episode has fallen on the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the PPA has opined that the fault lies not with the BRO but with both the BJP-ruled governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Expressing concern over the unfortunate development that happened during the visit of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the party has said that the issue cannot be brushed aside just with a simple apology from the BRO and needs to be well read and understood by the younger generation of the state. 
The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh has to be more daring to protect the honour and prestige of the state’s people rather than remaining in a state of procrastination between the dictates of the Centre and one’s political interests, the release added. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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