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International August 18, 2026

Chakmas Observed ‘Black Day’ in Delhi to Protest Historical Injustice of 1947 Partition

Hill Voice, 18 August 2026, International Desk: The Chakma community members residing in Delhi NCR observed “Chakma Black Day” yesterday on 17th August 2026 at Bhagwan Birsa Munda Bhawan, New Delhi to protest the illegal and unjust inclusion of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in East Pakistan during the partition of India in 1947.

The speakers informed the gathering that when the country was being partitioned in 1947, the Chakmas and other hill tribes of Chittagong Hill Tracts wanted to join India and they were assured by the top leaders of the Indian national congress that there was no question of CHT being given to Pakistan, since the population of CHT was 98% non-Muslim. The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June 1947 as well as the Indian Independence Act of 1947 excluded the CHT from the national boundary of East Bengal (East Pakistan).

At the midnight of 14-15 August 1947, about 10,000 Chakma people gathered at the residence of the British Deputy Commissioner Col GL Hyde at Rangamati (headquarters of CHT) to hoist the Indian National Flag and celebrate India’s independence from British Rule. But the DC asked them to come at the sunrise. So, at the sunrise of 15th August 1947, thousands of Chakma people hoisted the Indian National Flag publicly in the Football Ground in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner and thereafter followed the DC in procession and attended Government Flag Hosting Ceremony. The people of CHT assumed that they were part of free India.

But on 17th August 1947, it was announced in the All India Radio that the Bengal Boundary Commission awarded CHT to East Pakistan, not India. The Chakma people under the leadership of freedom fighter Sneha Kumar Chakma resolved to resist the award and sent Sneha Kumar Chakma to Delhi to galvanise support of the Indian Government. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused any support.

Meanwhile, the Indian tricolour kept flying at Rangamati for seven days, until the 21st August 1947 when the Pakistani Army came and pulled it down and annexed the CHT. On the other hand, India refused to send its army. The East Pakistan regime started atrocities against the Buddhist minorities and the atrocities are still taking place in Chittagong Hill Tracts under Bangladesh.

“In 2016, the Chakma National Council of India (CNCI) decided to observe 17th August every year as “Chakma Black Day” to protest the unjust award of CHT to East Pakistan. Chakmas also call this day as “PORAA HOBAALLYE DIN” which literally translates as “Burnt Forehead Day”, the forehead symbolising luck or future of the community. It is now widely believed that the future of the Chakma community got burnt to ashes on this day 17th August 1947” – explained Shri Paritosh Chakma, convenor of the Chakma Black Day Observation Committee.

“Before partition of Indian sub-continent, Chakmas were living in Chittagong Hill Tracts as well as in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura but the Radcliffe Line placed them into two independent and sovereign nations, instead of one and forever separated the community. This was the most unfortunate part in the history of the Chakmas,” lamented Bipul Chakma, President of Delhi Chakma Students Union.

Apart from Delhi, the Chakma Black Day was organized in various parts of India including Chakma Autonomous District Council (Mizoram) and Aizawl in Mizoram, Guwahati (Assam) and across the length and bread of Tripura.

It was followed by an online talk show hosted by “Changmah Raw” news channel featuring top Indian leaders like Shri Nirupam Chakma, former member of National Commission for Scheduled Tribe and incumbent Chief Executive Member of Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC); three Members of Legislative Assembly namely Smt Prova Chakma and Shri Rashik Mohan Chakma of Mizoram and Shri Sambhulal Chakma of Tripura; Shri Shanti Bikash Chakma, Samajpati/chief of Chakma community of Tripura; Shri Paritosh Chakma, author and social activist and Shri Ashutosh Chakma, General Manager, State Bank of India, Guwahati. The speakers discussed the historical injustice done to Chittagong Hill Tracts in 1947 and stressed upon unity based on Chakma nationalism to resolve all kinds of problems faced by the community both in Bangladesh and India. [Source: Press Release]