The Chakma National Council of India (CNCI) Tripura state committee on Tuesday observed August 17 as ‘Black Day’ to protest against the alleged torture and attacks being carried out over the community living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh and demanded justice from the International Court of Justice. The Black Day was observed at Kanchanpur Srirampur English Medium School on Tuesday.
The decision to observe August 17 as ‘Black Day’ was taken in the first national conference of the Chakma National Council of India held on March 24 and 25, 2016 in Guwahati, Assam. Since then, this ‘Black Day’ is being observed in various Chakma inhabited areas in India.
The CNCI opined that there had been an illegal reward of 98.5 percent of the non-Muslim Chittagong Hill Tracts to erstwhile Pakistan during the partition in 1947.
“In fact, August 17, 1947 was an extremely miserable nightmare for all indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It was the beginning of another dark chapter in history,” CNCI said in a press communiqué.
CNCI state committee vice-president Anirudra Chakma, General secretary Uday Jyoti Chakma, Tripura Chakma Student Association general secretary Subal Chakma among others remained present in the protest programme.
