Ulfa leader Anup Chetia-led Indigenous Forum, Assam, on Friday told the high-powered committee on Clause 6 of Assam Accord that the term “Assamese”, as mentioned in the Accord, meant only the indigenous people of the state.

“Those who had migrated to Assam till signing of the Assam Accord were not considered as Assamese at that time. The term was used to mean the sons of the soil of the state,” said a memorandum submitted by the forum to the committee.

Under the banner of the forum, 52 organisations, including 19 from Barak Valley, held an hour-long meeting with the committee members here on Friday. They submitted a list of 84 communities which, according to them, should be considered indigenous and entitled for constitutional safeguards.

The forum gave several parameters to identify indigenous people, including the definition prescribed by United Nations and one submitted by Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha to the Supreme Court.

“Indigenous people are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live,” the UN says.

According to the Mahasangha, a confederation of indigenous people of Assam, those communities which had been living in Assam till signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo (February 24, 1826) are indigenous.

The forum is against giving constitutional safeguards to those who migrated to Assam from other countries between 1951 and 1971. It said if these people get constitutional safeguard, then indigenous people will face an existential crisis.

Assam Public Works, an NGO, on Tuesday advocated constitutional safeguards for people who migrated to Assam between 1951 and 1971 and subsequently got citizenship.

A number of organisations and AGP leaders met the committee and submitted their suggestions.

AGP leader Keshab Mahanta said they suggested that 100 of the 126 Assembly seats should be reserved for indigenous people of the state. “Similarly, all Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha seats and over 80 per cent seats in local bodies should be reserved for indigenous people,” he said.