Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Itanagar: The All-India Chakma Students Union (AICSU) released a statement to address social media arguments over the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and the town now known as Tlabung. They claim the truth hides in plain sight. Official records should settle the noise.
The group detailed how the British once managed the CHT under three Rajas: the Chakma, Mong, and Bohmong. These leaders collected taxes from smaller hill tribes across the region. Evidence goes back centuries. A map by Portuguese cartographer Diego de Astor, published in 1615 by Joao de Barros, labeled the area Chacomas along the Karnaphuli River.
British interference changed everything. Prof Jangkhongam Doungel of Mizoram University noted that the colonial administration split the Chakma kingdom in 1860 into two parts: Chittagong and the CHT. The former became a regulated district in Bengal, while the latter stayed non-regulated.
Regarding Demagiri, the group insists the name has ancient roots. They claim it comes from the Pali words Deva and Giri, meaning hill of the gods. It appeared in old records as Demagree or Demagri. The name only shifted to Tlabung after a September 27, 1973 resolution by MLA Saitlawma in the Mizoram Legislative Assembly.
History shows complex borders. Major Anthony Gilchrist McCall wrote in his 1949 book, Lushai Chrysalis, that the Sailo migration pushed into Demagiri by the early 1800s. Sir Robert Reid, a former Assam Governor, confirmed the town sat within the CHT before a 1892 order placed it under the South Lushai Hills. A 1898 proclamation eventually pushed the area into Assam.
The union pointed to an 1879 Bengal government notification to prove their point. It placed the Inner Line north of Demagiri, cementing the town within the CHT footprint at the time. They stand by these publicly available papers. "There is no controversy surrounding these two issues," the organization said. They want the public to study these facts before arguing further.
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