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The U.S.

rounded up Japanese Americans like cattle during WW2, and


India did the same thing with Chinese Indians during and after its 1962
war. Its sordid record was revealed in the book Makam written by Rita
Chowdhury that chills readers to the bone marrow and released in 2010.
In the heat of nationalist fury following the 1962 war, fiery vengeance was
wreaked upon Chinese Indians. Under the draconian Defence of India Act
1962, an estimated 10,000 of them were rounded up from Mumbai,
Kolkata, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and the north-east. They were all accused
of being spies even though such charges were never proven.
In November-December 1962, Indias Chinese Indians were arrested and
sent to a central prison camp and kept there for several years, in terrible
conditions, only later released because they were scheduled to be forcibly
deported to China. Those who escaped the deportation exercise managed
to return to their homes only to find their homes looted or auctioned off.
The local authorities imposed restrictions on them and they became easy
targets for extortion.
Policemen came knocking on our door one November morning and said
wed have to go with them. They didnt allow us to take anything, not
even an extra pair of clothes, recalls Wang, who now runs Hong Kong
Restaurant in Tinsukia. Another Chinese, Shu, said he was bundled off
along with his family in a truck headed for a jail in Nagaon district, from
where they were put on a train to Deoli in the desert state of Rajasthan.

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