DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2020.v08i10.003

Pages: 536-542

The displacement, migration and statelessness are the words have long been recognized as relevant issues in international law. Nowhere the problem of displacement and statelessness is more acute than in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Sri Lankans, Tibetan, Afghani etc. in India, Burmese in Thailand and recently Rohingiya in Bangladesh, Vietnamese refugees in Cambodia and many ethnic Chinese in all parts of Southeast Asia are currently living a stateless life. Similar type of human rights abuses are suffering by the Hajongs of Diyun circle of the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The Hajongs are the small ethnic sub-tribe of the greater Bodo (Kachari) group of people of Northeast India. They are Mongoloid people and belonged to the Tibeto-Burman group. The Hajongs are the worst victims of the partition of India in 1947. The Hajong concentrated areas were annexed with the East Pakistan during of the country in 1947. They are found original inhabitant of North Mymensing District of erstwhile East Pakistan. The Hajongs were displaced from their original abode and migrated to undivided Assam as refugees in different phases. Subsequently, the Hajongs along with other refugees were rehabilitated in different Northeastern states. However, the Hajongs those who are rehabilitated in NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) by the Government of India are still fighting for citizenship rights and living a stateless life. The present work examines the causes of displacement and statelessness of the Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh especially in Changlang District of the Diyun Circle. It examines the causes of reactions from the indigenous Arunachali tribes; the All Arunachal Pradesh Student’s Union and even from the State Government. The paper concludes with study of the role of the Hajongs organizations, the Union Government and the Supreme Court in their fight for acquiring Indian citizenship rights for the Hajongs with relevance of the study.