The Forgotten Genocide: Indigenous from Chittagong Hill Tracts

After the Bangladesh Liberation War, followed by the establishment of Independent Bangladesh, the Bangladesh constitution did not recognise the ethnic identity and culture of the non-Bengali peoples of Bangladesh. The government policy recognised only the Bengali culture and the Bengali language, and designated all citizens of Bangladesh as Bengalis. The representatives of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, led by Manabendra Narayan Larma, sought autonomy and recognition of the rights of the peoples of the region. Short after the establishment of Independent Bangladesh, around 300,000 Bengali people were recorded to relocate to the Chittagong Hill Tracts by the government with homes, arable land, and food rationing (I, 2015). The first migration happened between 1978 and 1990. The original Jumma population in total was recorded around 400,000 collectively (PCJSS, n.d.). Given the amount of Bengali migration organised by the Bangladesh state which is almost exactly the same as the indigenous population, it caused tension between Bengali settlers and indigenous tribal groups. The indigenous population from CHT, especially the majority Chakmas, were forced to leave their religion, many of their children were abducted for forced conversions and the Bangladesh army used rape and violence as a mean of war against the indigenous women. The population composition of the indigenous people in the area was altered by the government, which promoted and funded the large-scale settlement of Bangladeshis, from 98% in 1971 to 50% in 2000. The indigenous tribals to considered the migration as the state sponsored colonialism. Given the state sponsored terrorism of Bengali settlers, a significant amount of Jummas indigenous tribals had to migrate to India and Myanmar.
 
Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (United People's Committee of the Chittagong Hill Tracts), a left-wing political party was founded by Manabendra Narayan Larma in 1972 to represent the people and indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and started to revolt the Bengali setter colonialism with its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini. Peace negotiations were initiated in 1996 and formally signed on 2 December 1997 (National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, n.d.). The agreement recognised the special status of the hill residents who are the indigenous tribals. The treatment of Bengali settlers and the Bangladesh state against the indigenous tribals of CHT was considered as “Genocide” (Roy, n.d.). Since then, the full-scaled war didn’t occur anymore but indigenous people in the area were always oppressed by the Bangladesh state and Bengali Islamic settlers.
 
During the series of Bangladesh protests in 2024, which consequently overthrow the government of Sheikh Hasina, some graffiti of Kalpana Chakma, a human rights activist and feminist from Bangladesh, who was a leader of Organizing Secretary of the Hill Women's Federation, were found at Jagannath University gate. She along her two brothers were allegedly abducted on 12 June 1996 from her home at Lallyaghona village by the Bangladesh army and she was never found again. After the interim government of Muhammad Yunus was formally established, the ban on Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was reversed. Things turns out to be worse in CHT area under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus as Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami always have been hostile towards Bangladesh Hindu monitories and CHT indigenous tribals. Comilla-origin Tripuras are almost in extinction (Hill Voice, 2024). A 16-year-old Marma girl was forcibly gang-raped by 6 army personnel from Bangladesh military forces in Rangamati District in September (Hill Voice, 2024).
 
The Bangladeshi security forces and law and order forces committed 107 human rights violations in the CHT between January and June of 2024. At least 5,448 Jumma people—5,000 of whom were men and women of the Bawm ethnic group—were victims of those human rights violations. In addition, 76 villages, comprising 47 Bawm households, and 1,284 families, including at least 1,000 Bawm families, were directly impacted by the violations. On the other hand, powerful people, non-governmental organizations, and settlers from outside the CHT have unlawfully taken over 1,806 acres of land (PCJSS, 2024). Two students lost their lives due to the bullets shot by the Bangladesh army on 19 September 2024. On 18 September 2024, one a professional thief and drug distributing Bengali settler named Md. Mamun who stole a motor bike from indigenous tribal lady hit the electric-line pole by the street. He was attacked by the vigilantes and died.  However, the Bengali immigrants quickly began disseminating divisive remarks and claiming that Mamun had been purposely assassinated by the Jumma people. On September 18, 2024, the Bengali settlers attempted an attack at Madhupur while disseminating false information. Madhupur of Khagrachari has been the target of attacks by Bengali settlers. Hundreds of Bengali settlers from Shalbon and Hospital regions made an effort to storm Jumma residences in Madhupur, Khagrachari town. At least 52 stores and homes were completely destroyed by fire, along with 24 motorcycles and auto rickshaws. An estimation of BDT 5 crore, or the whole wealth of the Jumma people, is thought to have been destroyed. The army soldiers then assumed the role of quiet observers (PCJSS, 2024).
 
The indigenous rights activism and politics are getting more and more attention globally. The histories are being written by the colonial settlers, portraying the victims of colonialism as barbaric and uncivilised. Sames goes for the Bangali colonial settlers and their Islamic colonialism against the Jumma indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Jumma indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are not demanding the Bangladesh to be governed by Jumma people. They’re asking autonomy and indigenous rights as the indigenous tribals from the region where they will be safe from Bangali colonial settler attacks and Islamic colonialism. Given that Jumma people are also diverse population where a number of indigenous tribal groups are united, it’s apparent to conclude that they all will have different political representations and different political interests. As a result, some political groups who claimed to represent the Jumma indigenous tribal groups, given the sufferings of at least 4 to 5 decades long genocide where the whole world deliberately ignored, indeed might have done some reactionary political opportunism. That needs to be criticised and corrected, yet, it’s important to acknowledge their right to be free from Bangali colonial settler attacks and Islamic colonialism as well as their rights to resist the occupation.
 
Summing up, people across the globe doesn’t need to support a political party or a political agenda to condemn genocide, war crimes, and colonialism. Besides, Jumma as a banner of solidarity for geographical identity where several indigenous tribal groups became united, is representing something that is unique from the “liberal capitalist form of statist/nationalist identity” as well as the nationalist identity of the “right-wing blood and soil politics”. It’s a bottom-up kind of grassroot identity where multiculturalism enriches and fighting for their liberations from an ethno-Bengali state.
 

References

Hill Voice, 2024. A Marma girl gang-raped by 6 army men in Kaptai. [Online] Available at: https://hillvoice.net/en/2023/09/a-marma-girl-gang-raped-by-6-army-men-in-kaptai/ [Accessed 10 October 2024].
Hill Voice, 2024. Are the Comilla-origin Tripuras on the verge of extinction?. [Online] Available at: https://hillvoice.net/en/2023/08/are-the-comilla-origin-tripuras-on-the-verge-of-extinction/ [Accessed 7 October 2024].
I, F. A., 2015. Nationalism and Intra-State Conflicts in the Postcolonial World. s.l.:Lexington Books.
National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, n.d. Parbatya Chattagram Jana-Samhati Samiti. [Online] Available at: https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Parbatya_Chattagram_Jana-Samhati_Samiti [Accessed 7 October 2024].
PCJSS, 2024. PCJSS Half-Yearly (January-June 2024) Report on Human Rights Situation of CHT. [Online] Available at: https://www.pcjss.org/pcjss-half-yearly-january-june-2024-report-on-human-rights-situation-of-cht/ [Accessed 10 October 2024].
PCJSS, 2024. Report on Communal Attacks in Khagrachari, Dighinala, and Rangamati on 18, 19, and 20 September 2024., s.l.: PCJSS.
PCJSS, n.d. Population in CHT. [Online] Available at: https://www.pcjss.org/population-in-cht/ [Accessed 7 October 2024].
Roy, R., n.d. Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs..