Hill Voice, 16 August 2021, Special Correspondent: An online discussion meeting (webinar) will be held tomorrow, 17 August 2021, on the story of the suffering of different indigenous ethnic groups, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh and the Indian Chakma people. Speakers from Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and Canada will participate in the webinar, sources said.

Shanti Bikash Chakma, Assistant General Secretary of the Chakma National Council of India (CNCI), is supposed to facilitate the event while panelist from Mizoram, CNCI President Nirupam Chakma; CNCI Mizoram State Committee President Rasik Mohan Chakma; Chakma Autonomous District Council Chief Executive Member and CNCI Mizoram State Committee Secretary Durjodhan Chakma; CYCA President Dr. Jyotirmoy Chakma and Prabin Chakma; Vice President of the All Assam Chakma Society Ashutosh Chakma and Alexander Chakma from Assam; Mahendra Chakma, President of CRDO from Arunachal Pradesh; Paritosh Chakma, President of All India Chakma Student Union from Delhi and Priti Bindu Chakma from Canada are expected to be present at the webinar.

It may be mentioned that since 2016, the Chakma people of India have been observing ’17th of August’ every year as a ‘Black Day’ at the initiative of the Chakma National Council of India (CNCI). The black day was observed to protest the annexation of the 98.5 per cent non-Muslim (indigenous peoples)-inhabited CHT region to the Muslim-populated Pakistan during the partition of 1947. The decision to observe Black Day was taken at the first national conference of the CNCI held on March 24 and 25, 2016 in Guwahati, the capital of Assam. Since then, this ‘Black Day’ has been celebrated in various Chakma-inhabited areas of India.

The online discussion will be streamed live on the Dhunduk Agartala Facebook page on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, at 6:00 pm Indian time and at 6:30 pm Bangladesh time.

The link is as follows- https://www.facebook.com/527582240732003/posts/2015819091908303/