Chak people

Not to be confused with Chakma people.

The Chaks (Bengali: চাক Bengali pronunciation: [tʃak]), are a community inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, northeastern states of India and also in Myanmar.

Chak

Total population
3,077[1] (2022)
Languages
Sak language[2]
Religion
Theravada Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Kadu

History

By the mid-13th century, the Saks had diverged from the Kadu people, who now reside in northwestern Myanmar's Sagaing Region.^[3] The Chaks entered the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the 14th century after their kingdom was overrun by the Arakanese. Despite this, there are still Chaks living in Arakan.^[4]

Thet people

The Chak people are called Thet (Burmese: သက်) in Myanmar. They are considered a subgroup of the Rakhine people under Myanmar's 1982 ethnicity law.^[5][6] According to the Joshua Project and Asia Harvest evangelical groups, the population ranges from 5,000 to 29,000.^[7][8] However, community leaders claimed to Arakanese regional media that there were nearly 6,000 ethnic Thet in Myanmar with 3,000-4,000 in Rakhine State alone.^[9]