Conflict in the chittagong hill tracts of bangladesh: An unimplemented accord and continued violence

Asian Survey

Volumn 49, Issue 6, 2009, Pages 1052-1070

  Panday, Pranab Kumar ^a   Jamil, Ishtiaq ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF RAJSHAHI   (Bangladesh)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

Author keywords

Bangladesh; CHT conflict; Indigenous communities; Peace accord; Settlers

Indexed keywords

ETHNIC CONFLICT; ETHNOPOLITICS; HUMAN RIGHTS; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; PEACE PROCESS; PEACEKEEPING; POLITICAL VIOLENCE; TOP-DOWN APPROACH;

BANGLADESH; CHITTAGONG [BANGLADESH]; CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS;

EID: 73349140195     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: 1533838X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2009.49.6.1052     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. The CHT, the only extensive hills in Bangladesh's southeast, cover about 13,184 square kilometers, approximately one-tenth of the country's total area. According to the Population Census of 2001, the total population of the CHT is around 1.35 million. Of these, indigenous people comprise around 700,000 and Bangali settlers around 650,000 (see Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts, at 〈http://www.mochta.gov.bd/resources/Publication/ 2007-03-14- 1173863834barshik-protibedon-2004-2005.pdftnational〉, accessed on January 15, 2009.
2. These 13 different indigenous communities include the Chakma, Marma, Pankho, Khumi, Lusai, Murong, Bonojog, Tanchanya, Khyang, Chak, Tripura, Mro, and Ryang. See Muhammad Kamal Uddin, "Rights of Indigenous People and Minority Issues in Bangladesh," 〈http://ipra2006.com/papers/IPRC/ RightsofIndigenousPeopleandMinorityIssues-Bangladesh. doc〉, accessed July 5, 2008.
3. "Bangla"-speaking people are called "Bangalis." We have written the Bengali word "Bangla" in English form. By "Bangali" we refer to the people of Bangladesh who speak in the Bengali language. However, there are two streams of people who used to recognize themselves as either "Bangali" or "Bangladeshi." This is an issue that has a political contradiction also. The Awami League and its supporters recognize themselves as "Bangali," while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its supporters recognize themselves as "Bangladeshi." However, the meaning is the same.
4. More than 90% of the Bangladeshi population is Muslim, with about 9% Hindus. However, a majority of the ethnic minorities are Buddhist. Thus, they differ from Bangalis in terms of religious beliefs. Ethnic minorities also have their own languages. Mark Levene, "The Chit- tagong Hill Tracts: A Case Study in the Political Economy of 'Creeping' Genocide," Third World Quarterly 20:2 (April 1999), pp. 339-69.
5. For a discussion, see Amena Mohsin, The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: On the Difficult Road to Peace (London: Lynne Rienner, 2003).
6. C. D. Brauns and L. G. Loffer (eds.), Mru: Hill People on the Border of Bangladesh (Boston: Birkhauser, 1990), cited in Eshani Chakraborty, "Understanding Women's Mobilization in the
7. Chittagong Hill Tracts Struggle: The Case of Mahila Samiti," paper presented to the 15th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Canberra, June 29 to July 2, 2004.
8. Eleanor Dictaan-Bang-oa, In Search for Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh (2004), 〈http://www.tebtebba.org/about-us/ publications/special/beyond/BeyondText.pdf〉, accessed July 10, 2008.
9. The CHT Regulation of 1900 divided the hill tracts into three "revenue circles," which include the Chakma, Mong, and Bohmang. Headed by a rajah (king), each circle comprised representatives from all tribes
10. See Philip Gain, "Life and Nature at Risk," in Raja Devashish Roy (ed.) et al., The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Life and Nature at Risk (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Society for Environment and Human Development, 2000), p. 17.
11. Dictaan-Bang-oa, In Search for Peace.
12. Before 1971, the Pakistan government permitted migration of non-tribals into the hill tracts and introduced the system of transfer of land ownership and other resources to non- tribal people through amendment to Regulation 1 of the CHT Regulation of 1900. See R. Ramasubramanian, "Elusive Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts: A Background," South Asia Analysis Group, no. 1540 (2005), at 〈http://www.saag.org/papers16/paper1540.html〉, accessed July 8, 2008.
13. Raajen Singh, "The Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh," in C. Nicholas and R. Singh (eds.), Indigenous Peoples of Asia: Many Peoples, One Struggle (Bangkok: Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, 1996), p. 129.
14. This disastrous project was funded by the United States, commissioned in 1961 to help industrialize and electrify the region.
15. Within the CHT territory, only 545 square kilometers is truly cultivable land, while the rest is hills.
16. Ramasubramanian, "Elusive Peace"; Syed Anwar Hussain, War and Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Retrospect and Prospect (Dhaka: Agamee Prakashani, 1999)
17. M. Mu- fazzalul Huq, Government Institutions and Underdevelopment: A Study of the Tribal Peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Center for Social Studies, 2000).
18. Chakraborty, "Understanding Women's Mobilization."
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. A. Mohsin, "State Hegemony," in P. Gain, ed., The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Life and Nature at Risk (Dhaka: Society for Environmental and Human Development [SEHD], 2000), p. 61.
22. See Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman and A. H. Monjurul Kabir, Role of Parliament in Conflict Resolution: A Critical Review of the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) Peace Accord in Bangladesh, p. 8
23. Working Paper, no. 2, "The Role of Parliament in Conflict and Post Conflict Asia," United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Regional Center in Bangkok, Thailand, (2005).
24. Cited in ibid.
25. Manobendra Narayan Larma was the leader of the majority of the CHT people. He was assassinated in 1983 by a dissident faction.
26. Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Parliamentary Debates, October 31, 1972, p. 452
27. cited in Aminuzzaman and Kabir, Role of Parliament, p. 8.
28. The goal of PCJSS was to safeguard the rights of the Hill People and secure their right to autonomy.
29. Ibid.
30. Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR), "The Ravaged Hills of Bangladesh," ACHR Review, Index: Review/35/2004, at 〈http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2004/35-04:html〉, accessed July 5, 2008.
31. Ibid.
32. Ushatan Talukder, "Chittagong Hill Tracts Issue and Post-Accord Situation," paper presented at the International Conference on Civil Society, Human Rights, and Minorities in Bangladesh, organized by the Campaign Against Atrocities on Minorities in Bangladesh (CAAMB), in association with the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC, International Chapters), Kolkata, India, January 22-23, 2005.
33. Bangladesh Watchdog, "Fresh Violence in CHT: Indigenous Villages Attacked," April 25, 2008, 〈http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com/ 2008/04/fresh-violence-in-cht-indigenous. html〉, accessed on January 17, 2009.
34. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), "Chittagong Hill Tracts," submission to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Universal Periodic Review: Bangladesh, April 2008, 〈http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/UNPO-BGD-UPR-S4-2009- UnrepresentedNationsandPeoplesOrganization-upr.pdf〉, accessed January 17, 2009.
35. Cited in Galdu Resource Center for the Rights of Indigenous People, "Bangladesh: Indigenous People Still Face Discrimination and Eviction from Their Land," 2008, 〈http:// www.galdu.org/web/index.php?odas= 2881&giella1=eng〉, accessed on January 17, 2009.
36. Sara Hossain and Dina M. Siddiqui, "Human Rights in Bangladesh, 2007," in Ain O Shalish Kendra (a local NGO [non-governmental organization] providing legal and judicial help), Dhaka, 2008.
37. UNPO, "Chittagong Hill Tracts."
38. Social forestation refers to planting trees in order to protect the environment from the negative impact of deforestation under government initiatives.
39. Comments by Shantu Larma (chief of the CHT Regional Council and countersigna- tory to the Accord), Daily Star, January, July 7, 2008.
40. R. C. K. Roy, Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs [IWGIA], 2000).
41. ACHR, "The Ravaged Hills of Bangladesh."
42. Retrieved from 〈http://intercontinentalcry.org/settlers-attack- jumma-in-the-chittagong- hill-tracts/〉, April 16, 2008.
43. ACHR, "The Ravaged Hills of Bangladesh."
44. These five members were Jotish Chakma, Sadhan Moni Chakma, Rosomoy Chakma, Borkul Chakma, and Bhubon Moni Chakma.
45. ACHR, "The Ravaged Hills of Bangladesh."
46. Mark Levene, "The Chittagong Hill Tracts."
47. UNPO, "Chittagong Hill Tracts: Spotlight on Human Rights," 〈http://www.unpo.org/content/view/7731/236/〉, accessed February 22, 2008.
48. Talks to solve the CHT problem had actually started in the early 1980s, but none of these initiatives had brought any significant breakthroughs.
49. The 12-member National Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts was headed by then Chief Whip of the Parliament Abul Hasnat Abdullah. The committee members were members of Parliament belonging to the AL (party in power), BNP and Jatio Party (parties in opposition), retired government officials, and renowned social workers.
50. Paul S. Chhakchhuak, Chittagong Hill Tracts: Stating and Resolving the Issues within the Mountains (Dhaka, Bangladesh: American International School/Dhaka, Senior Project, 2004).
51. Dictaan-Bang-oa, In Search for Peace, p. 8.
52. Information used in this section has been collected from the UPDF website at 〈http:// www.updfcht.org/about.html〉, accessed on July 11, 2008.
53. UNPO, "Chittagong Hill Tracts," accessed January 17, 2009. Initiated in 1990 in Tartu, Estonia, and formed in the Hague in February 11, 1991, UNPO has established itself as a democratic international organization whose main objectives are to educate groups in what channels to use to make their voices heard, and to help defuse tensions so that frustrated groups do not turn to violence to gain attention for their demands. Its members are indigenous peoples, occupied nations, minorities, and independent states or territories lacking representation internationally.
54. Ibid.
55. Daily Star (a widely circulated English daily) (Dhaka) 5:186 (December 1, 2004), front page.
56. Ibid.
57. For a more detailed discussion, see Ishtiaq Jamil and Pranab Kumar Panday, "The Elusive Peace Accord in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the Plight of the Indigenous People," Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 46:4 (November 2008), pp. 464-89.
58. The Shanti Bahini, formed in 1972, was the name of the military wing of the PCJSS. Shanti Bahini whose main objective was to preserve the rights of the tribal people in southeastern Bangladesh fought for many years against the central government. It abandoned militancy following the peace treaty signed by the government and the PCJSS on December 2, 1997.
59. These groups include UPDF; Pahari Chattra Parishad (PCP, or Hill Students Council)
60. Pahari Gano Parishad (PGP, or Hill Peoples Council); and Hill Women Federation (HWF).
61. Daily Star (Dhaka), December 1, 2004.
62. Amnesty International, "Bangladesh: Human Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts" (February 2000), at http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/ Index/ENGASA130012000?open&of=ENG-BGD, accessed on May 12, 2009.
63. Jyotirindra Bodhipriyo Larma, "The CHT and Its Solution," paper presented at the Regional Training Program to Enhance the Conflict Prevention and Peace-Building Capacities of Indigenous Peoples, representatives of the Asia-Pacific, organized by the U.N. Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) at Chiang Mai, Thailand, April 7-12, 2003.
64. Victoria Tauli Corpuz et al. (eds.), The Chittagong Hill Tracts: The Road to a Lasting Peace (Baguio City, Philippines: Tebtebba Foundation, 2000).
65. Ranabir Samaddar, Those Accords: A Bunch of Documents, South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) (Kathmandu), Paper Series, no. 4 (1999).
66. Amena Mohsin, "Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord: Looking Ahead," Journal of Social Studies, University of Dhaka (August-October 1998), pp. 104-17.
67. Roy, p. 23.
68. Sub-district situated at the district headquarters.
69. Daily Star (Dhaka), May 12, 2009.
70. S. Nagel, Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Pub., 2002).
71. The Sami are indigenous people who inhabit mainly the northern region of Scand0inavia. In Norway, their conflict with the mainstream Norwegian populace intensified when a dam was constructed on the Alta-Kautekeino River in the late 1970s, even though the decision to build the dam was made in the early 1960s. This situation resembles the building of the Kaptai Dam in the CHT region. Both these situations led to massive protests. However, the approach to solving these conflicts differed. In Norway, the Sami people were given political autonomy through the establishment of Sametinget, which allows them direct election. The first such election took place in 1989. For details on the Sametinget, see http://www.samediggi.no/ artikkel.aspx?AId=884&back=1&MId1=270
72. Jamil and Panday, "The Elusive Peace Accord," p. 485.
73. Naeem Mohaiemen, "Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Missing Pahari Vote," Daily Star, January 12, 2008. The government's decision to set up the three judge court was a follow up activity of the High Court's order (given on February 24, 2008) to set up civil and criminal courts in the three hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari, and Bandarban. The importance of setting up these courts was immense because CHT residents had been deprived of their equal rights to law and justice in the absence of civil and criminal courts in the three districts. In the verdict, the court also mentioned such a realization.
74. See 〈http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/resist/military.html〉, accessed November 5, 2009.