ACTION ALERT

15 January 2001

Arrest of human rights defender, Sanchay Chakma and 8 others in Bangladesh

South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) is writing to express its serious concern and seek your intervention against the arrest of human rights defender and indigenous Jumma leader, Mr Sanchay Chakma. Mr. Chakma, a member of the Convening Committee of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) was arrested along with 8 other activists. The arrests were effected at 4.30 pm on 12 January 2001 by Bangladesh Police and plainclothes personnel from the Intelligence Bureau. Mr. Chakma and others were organizing a public meeting at Chittagong District Auditorium. No formal permission is required from the government authorities to organize a meeting in a hall or auditorium. The meeting was to celebrate the second anniversary of the formation of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), one of the organizations of the indigenous Jumma peoples. The police reportedly manhandled the organizers and participants of the meeting, snatched away the microphone and forced the participants to leave the auditorium. Those arrested are presently being held in Chittagong jail. They will reportedly be produced before the court on 17 January 2001.

The others who were arrested persons are: (1) Dipayon Khisha, member, Reorganisation Committee of the Hill People's Council, (2) Mr Rupok Chakma, President, Hill Student's Council, (3) Mr Biplob Chakma, a student of Chittagong University and also a Executive Committee Member of the Hill Student's Council, (4) Mr Rupayon Chakma, a polytechnic student at Chittagong, (5) Mr Newton Chakma, a BA examinee, (6) Mr Sadhan Mitra Chakma and (7) Mr Kalai Chakma, supporter of the UPDF. The police also arrested a guest speaker, Mr Karim Abdullah, a Chittagong City leader of the Janotantric Biplobi Jote (Democratic Revolutionary Front).

The police arrested Mr Sanchay Chakma and others without arrest warrant under Section 54 of the Bangladesh Criminal Procedure Code. Section 54 provides that:

"When police may arrest without warrant.

54. (1) Any police officer may, without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest -

First, any person who has been concerned in any cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned;

Secondly, any person having in his possession without lawful excuse, the burden of proving which excuse shall lie on such person, any implement of house-breaking;

Thirdly, any person who has been proclaimed as an offender either under this Code or by order of the (Government);

Fourthly, any person in whose possession anything is found which may reasonably be suspected to be stolen property and who may reasonably be suspected of having committed an offence with reference to such thing;

Fifthly, any person who obstructs a police-officer while in the execution of his duty, or who has escaped, or attempts to escape from lawful custody;

Sixthly, any person reasonably suspected of being a deserter from [the armed forces of Bangladesh];

Seventhly, any person who has been concerned in, or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been concerned in any act committed at any place out of [Bangladesh] which, if committed in [Bangladesh], would have been punishable as an offence and for which he is, under any law relating to extradition or under the Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881 of otherwise, liable to be apprehended or detained in custody in Bangladesh;

Eighthly, any released convict committing a breach of any rule made under section 565, sub-section(3);

Ninthly, any person for whose arrest a requisition has been received from another police-officer, provided that the requisition specified the person to be arrested and the offence of other cause for which the arrest is to be made and it appears therefrom that the person might lawfully be arrested without a warrant by the officer who issued the requisition."

Mr Sanchay Chakma recently participated in the 6th Session of the United Nations Open Ended Inter-Sessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in Geneva held on 20 November-1 December 2000. Mr Sanchay Chakma made statements on standard setting processes and cited the situation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts as illustration. He also addressed a public meeting organised on 27 November 2000 during the Working Group session on the occasion of the release of the report, "Life Is Not Ours: Land and Human Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh - Update 4", an investigative report of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission.

Mr Sanchay Chakma, the former President of the Hill Student Council, was first arrested on 16 March 1993 without a warrant under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after his return from the Diplomacy Training Programme organised by the University of New South Wales, Australia. He was detained by the Special Branch of the Bangladesh police who questioned him about a video cassette made on the Logang massacre where over 100 Jummas were massacred by illegal Bengali settlers and members of the army. After 70 days of detention, he was released by order of the High Court in response to a writ petition.

He was once again arrested on 18 March 1998 after the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord and charged under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. After nine months of detention, Mr Sanchay Chakma was released from jail on 18 December 1998.

Background:

The CHTs, sandwiched between the Arakan hills of Burma and the Northeast India is the homeland of ten different ethnic nationalities namely the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Khiyang, Lushai, Khumi, Chak, Murung, Bowm and Pankoo for the last few centuries. They are collectively known as Jumma, a term used by the Chittagonian Bangalees, for their shifting cultivation or Jum cultivation.

Since 1975, the indigenous Jumma peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh have been subjected to serious human rights abuses including large scale massacres. Over half a million Bengali plains' settlers were transferred into the CHTs with a view to make indigenous Jumma peoples minority in their own land. Massacres of the Jummas by the Bangladesh security forces and the illegal plain settlers forced 70,000 Jummas, approximately 10% of the total Jumma population to seek shelter in Tripura State of India in 1986, 1989 and 1993. After the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord on 2 December 1997, all the refugees returned.

Even after signing the Peace Accord, there has been little improvement of the human rights situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Over one hundred Jummas have been arrested. Many have been killed including the three Jummas at Dighinala on 16 October 1999.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, visited Bangladesh on 13-24 May 2000. In his report (A/55/280/Add.2) to the General Assembly following his visit to Bangladesh, Mr Amor states "Doubts had even been expressed as to whether the Government genuinely desired to make the Accord succeed. Of primary concern in this context was the fact that the Government had not transferred to the Regional Council the majority of the powers provided for under the Accord, thus rendering the Council inoperative. As a result, the Government continued to administer the Chittagong Hill Tracts directly (through its local representatives, the Deputy Commissioner and the army). Mention was also made of the delay in the setting up of the Land Commission (two and a half years) and in the return of land; the fact that a large part of the military presence had been maintained; and the fact that rehabilitation of displaced persons and refugees was still incomplete. It was further noted that Bengalis continued to be settled in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Although this process had not been planned by the Government, it did benefit from assistance provided by local authorities (distribution of food rations and allocation of housing) and Muslim extremists."

The situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts remains the same since the visit of the Special Rapportuer. A mere 29 camps out of about 500 military camps in the CHTs have reportedly been withdrawn since December 1997. The army continues to commit human rights violations. Most of the recent victims have been members of United Peoples Democratic Front, Hill Watch Human Rights Forum, Hill Peoples Council (HPC), Hill Students Council (HSC) and Hill Women Federation (HWF) which have criticised the Accord. These organisations hold that the Accord failed to address the question of constitutional recognition of the distinct identity of the Jummas. These organisations have been demanding, autonomy with a self governing legislature, withdrawal of illegal plainsmen settlers and military camps and return of the lands to the original Jumma owners.

The latest arrest of Mr Sanchay Chakma and his colleagues vividly illustrates the continued and consistent denial of the right to freedom of association and assembly to the indigenous Jumma peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh even after signing of the CHTs Peace Accord on 2 December 1997 by the Parbattaya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) and the Government of Bangladesh.

On 26 December 1999, the UPDF organised a public meeting at Chittagong City's Laldighi Maidan. The meeting was also interrupted by the police. When indigenous Jumma peoples from remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts started gathering at the new venue, the police resorted to an unprovoked lathi charge and arrested about 40 people. Whenever the indigenous Jumma peoples seek permission to organise meetings, the Governmental authorities consistently deny their right to assembly and association by imposing Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code which prohibits assembly of more than five people.

Impunity is the single most important factor contributing to human rights abuses. No one has been prosecuted for over a dozen massacres, The army and settlers perpetrated a massacre on 17 November 1993 at Naniachar. More than 40 indigenous Jummas were killed at Naniachar Bazaar by the Bangladesh army and the settlers. The Government of Bangladesh ordered a judicial inquiry headed by Justice Habibur Rahman to inquire into the Naniachar massacre. The report was submitted to the Government of Bangladesh on 26 May 1994. The Government of Bangladesh has yet failed to make the report public. To add insult to injury, Jumma activists have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the "Naniachar riot" after signing of the Peace Accord. Similarly, the report inquiring into the disappearance of a leader of the Hill Women Federation, Ms Kalpana Chakma on 12 June 1996 has not been made public as yet.

Appeal

In your communications, urge the Government of Bangladesh to:

- Release Mr Sanchaya Chakma and his other colleagues arrested under Section 54 of the Bangladesh Criminal Procedure Code;
- Take effective measures to ensure the enjoyment of the right to freedom of association and assembly by the indigenous Jumma peoples;

Send your appeals to:

Ms Sheikh Hasina
Honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Old Sangsad Bhawan
New Airport Road
Tejgaon, Dhaka
Fax: 00-880-2-8113243

Mr Rafiqul Islam Biruttam
Minister for Home Affairs
Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh
Fax: 00-880-2-8696667

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