Jummas of CHTs: Caught Between Accord and Discord

Violent clashes erupted between ethnic Jumma (largely Buddhists) minorities and Bengali settlers in the Khagrachhari and Rangamati districts in Chittagong Hill between 19-23 February, resulting in at least four deaths. Hundreds have reportedly been injured or displaced. Reports claim that thousands of indigenous people were made homeless after arsonists supported by Bangladeshi soldiers burned down nearly 600 Jamma buildings, including residential houses, temples, churches and schools, during the violence. However, the Bangladeshi government has denied any involvement, direct or indirect, in the recent violence.

Now that a tenuous peace has returned to Bangladesh’s tribal Chittagong Hill Tracts region following clashes between tribes and settlers in violence that some say was encouraged by the military, all eyes are now on how Dhaka will respond. I published a report on this issue titled “Bangladesh Under Fire over Tribal Violence” at ISN Security Watch, Zurich, with views from couple of expert observers of the situation.

For a brief background, read ASI Blog report, “Ethnic Violence Grips Bangladesh”, February 24, 2010.

Here is the transcript of my interview with Sophie Grig, senior campaigner with Survival International. The London-based Survival International advocates for tribal rights worldwide and has been long monitoring the CHT situation. Your (ASI Blog readers) Comments are very welcome.

Q1- Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh have witnessed violence recently. How do you describe this episodic ethnic violence that surfaced in the area between Bengali settlers and Jumma Hill people?

Sadly, the recent violence comes as no surprise to those who are following the situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Tension had been building up in the Sajek region for some time, with settlers, supported by the soldiers, taking land from the Jumma tribal people. The history of conflict between the two groups means that any incident can spark great tensions which can rapidly get out of hand. As happened here, once the violence was triggered, settlers have taken the opportunity to burn down the houses of innocent Jumma villagers. Because the army supports and encourages the settlers, they are able to act without restraint. Soldiers have been involved in gross human rights violations in the CHT, with impunity, for many years. It is essential that those responsible for the shooting of Jumma people are brought to justice and a full impartial investigation should take place into the whole incident. Until the Jummas have their land rights fully recognized and the CHT is demilitarized (including the removal of all the temporary military camps, as agreed in the Peace Accord), the Jumma people will not be able to feel safe on their own land.

Q2- CHTs Peace Accord is 12 years old and yet to be implemented in real terms. Is there a lack of political will or vested interest playing a larger game here? 

I think for many years there was a absence of much needed ‘political will’ to implement the peace accord. Couple of years back, there have been many positive signs but nothing although it is not happening fast enough. I also believe that there are vested interests in the CHT, within the army and the settler communities, who do not want the accord to be implemented and who do not want the military to lose their control in the region. Survival is calling on the government to fully implement the CHT peace accord and to ensure that all those responsible for attacks against the Jumma people are brought to justice.

Q3- Do you think that there will be reemergence armed groups in CHTs to protect minority rights, especially in the face of alleged military repressions?

I hope that this won’t be the case, and that this recent violence will have helped those within the Jumma community, who are divided about how best to push for peace in their region, to unite and work together for the rights of all Jummas.

Q4- Any recommendations for the Dhaka authority?

It is important for the Jummas to regain trust in the Government after these brutal attacks. Therefore, it is essential that there should be a full, independent investigation into the recent events and the role army played there. Those responsible for this atrocity must be brought to justice. While the army, and settlers, are seen to be able to kill and destroy with such impunity, the Jummas will never be safe on their own land. We call on the Bangladesh government to put an end to army violence in the CHT, withdraw the army camps, and fully implement the Peace Accord.

Posted by Animesh Roul on March 11, 2010. Respond »

Ethnic Violence Grips Bangladesh

On February 23, Dhaka authority deployed troops in the south-eastern Khagrachhari district (Chittagong Hill Tracts) after clashes between ethnic tribal people and Bengali settlers left at least 15 people injured and several houses torched. Earlier, similar violence took place in Rangamati district on February 19-20.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) stated that at least eight Chakmas (one of the indigenous tribes of CHTs) were shot dead by the Bangladesh army personnel while dozens were injured on Feb 19-20. However the government has denied the reports so far.

Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement to media (the author of this blog also received the statement) saying,

It is established beyond any reasonable doubt that the Bangladesh army is denying access to the sites to prevent the truth from coming out. The arrest of six Chakmas who got admitted at Baghachari army camp with bullet injuries sustained in the firing of the Bangladesh Army for alleged rioting is a direct attempt to discourage the indigenous peoples from approaching the authorities and therefore, keep the massacre under the carpet.

It is quite evident that the non-implementation of the 1997 Accord and continuing appropriation of the lands of tribal peoples are the root causes of this ongoing violence. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region in Bangladesh was plagued by decade long insurgency in the 1980s. In 1997 a peace accord inked between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS), a political platform of the tribal people, now known as the United Peoples Democratic Front, brought some sort of respite to the indigenous tribal people.

Fear looms large on the horizon that Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh, home to at least 12 ethnic minority groups, is bracing for another round of severe and prolong ethnic conflict. The fear is not restricted to only violence between tribal hill people, predominantly Buddhist and Bengali migrant settlers in Chittagong Hill, but the imminent return of armed vigilante movements (remember the Shanti Bahini’s armed movement) which might resurface to safeguard tribal rights and identity of the region or to secure the Jumma nation (homeland for the tribal hill people) all over again.

Meanwhile, the ACHR accused the Bangladesh government of only arresting people from the tribal communities from in and around Khagrachhari district. ACHR also calls for a judicial inquiry to be completed within 90 days into the killings and destruction of properties till now, and fully implement the CHTs Accord of 1997 within specific time frame.

Posted by Animesh Roul on February 24, 2010. Respond »

India and Bangladesh: Treating Disease Together!

For the very first time, two countries in South Asia (India and Bangladesh) have joined forces to fight common infectious diseases through mutual cooperation. The health ministers of both countries even agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding in near future for working together on different aspects in health sector. This is undoubtedly a welcome development and only with this kind of bilateral initiative countries can mitigate and contain cross-border transmission of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases (ERIDs).

However, this development (call it ‘initiative’) ironically went unnoticed by the large section of print and web media here in the region.  So I am flagging it here for the ASI Blog readers for further discussion.

Bangladesh, India to prepare MoU in health sector, New Nation, February 15, 2010

“Dhaka, Delhi agree to cut infectious diseases”, Daily Star, February 15, 2010.

“Dhaka, New Delhi to cooperate on curbing infectious diseases”, IANS, February 15, 2010

Posted by Animesh Roul on February 16, 2010. Respond »

In the News: “Dialogue Key to Ending Leftist Violence in Asia”

In the Bangkok Post, Michael Vatikiotis writes that a “new threat is emerging in Asia.”

...[T]he newest non-state armed groups battling governments in the name of justice and freedom draw on what was once thought to be a dead ideology: Marxism.”

Citing examples from India, to Nepal, parts of Burma, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Thailand, Vatikiotis concludes:

... In the experience of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which has convened dialogue with parties in armed conflict across Asia and Africa for the past decade, resolving any conflict necessitates the initiation of dialogue, almost always in conditions which initially will not be conducive or promising.

More broadly, governments need to recognise that armed violence against the state won’t disappear when Osama bin Laden is one day captured and al-Qaeda defeated.

For millions of disenfranchised people across Asia, whether they are facing ethnic or economic marginalisation, it would appear that Marxist ideas of popular struggle still have enormous appeal.

It would be a shame indeed, if all the effort expended on defeating terrorism this past decade is not related back to the basic root of the problem, which is that when people run out of peaceful ways to see their grievances redressed, they will take up arms.

Rather than becoming obsessed with cultural and religious divides - and in the process reinforcing them - the best way to deal with the problem is to engage in a dialogue to bring about an end to violence, whatever the root cause or driving ideology.”

Read the entire op-ed here.

Posted by Matthew Shannon Stumpf on December 14, 2009. Respond »

Delhi-Dhaka Anti-Terror Cooperation: Time to Run the Extra Miles!

India and Bangladesh amicably announced to have mutual legal assistance on terror/ criminal matters which include criminal extraditions, illegal drug trafficking and fighting cross border terrorism during Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni’s recent four day India visit. It is speculated that the pacts should strengthen India’s claim for deportation of Northeastern terrorists who are based or holed up in Bangladesh, especially in the absence of a formal extradition treaty between the two neighboring countries. 

India has already given a list of terror outfits, names of over hundred terrorist leaders, their training camps spread over at least 18 bordering districts in Bangladesh. However, Dhaka never acted upon these requests seriously.

The recent anti-terror understandings notwithstanding, Dhaka once again refused to hand over top rung northeast militants. India maintains that the neighboring country has been providing safe havens hosting many top Northeast militants, mostly United Liberation of Asom (ULFA) and Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) leaders.  Militant leaders like Paresh Baruah, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Ranjan Daimary and Anup Chetia are all based in Bangladesh territory and having valid Bangladesh passports and running legitmate buisness activties. Chetia, the ULFA leader who, according to Dhaka authorities, had already completed his sentence in Bangladesh and can not be extradited. The argument given was that, the case of Chetia was not covered by the bilateral agreement under which ‘Indians sentenced in Bangladesh could finish their jail term in India and vice versa’. Again, early this month (Sept. 2009) Dhaka administration expressed ignorance about any request to hand over National Democratic Front of Bodoland Chief Ranjan Daimary who has been holed up in Bangladesh since long.

Both Bangladesh and Nepal are transit points for Pakistan based terrorists, either active in Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere in India. Recent arrests of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Mufti Obaidullah and Muhammed Madni revealed these intricate terror routes. The other major headache for Indian government is the growing alliance between Bangladesh based Islamic extremists (e.g. Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami) and Indian Muslims, largely supported by Northeast outfits (e.g National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isaac-Muivah and Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam for their anti-India causes.

Like India, Bangladesh too is facing Islamic militancy and struggles to mitigate terrorist violence on home turf. Bangladesh has assured India that it would never allow its territory to be used by terrorists. The problem is that in Bangladesh (similar as in Pakistan), public sympathies and sometimes, politico- religious support remain with the Islamist elements which in turn impede any sustained counterterror efforts. 

The positive development so far has been the Joint Task Force idea mooted by the Sheikh Hasina government to deal with militancy and organized crime in the region. And of course, not to forget, couple of joint anti- terror military exercises with India in early 2009 to start with. These events are definitely stepping stones for a robust bilateral anti-terror mechanism between the two countries, but how far the idea and good intentions would be implemented in practice and continue further irrespective of political regimes, remain a bigger question. It is time for both South Asian nations to run the extra miles to make the region secure and stable. Indian leadership has already indicated to help Bangladesh to speed up the process. For now, the onus is on Bangladesh to take the right steps at right direction.

Posted by Animesh Roul on September 17, 2009. Respond »