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Elusive Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

An uneasy peace hangs like an ephemeral cloud in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) of Bangladesh. A little over two years ago, amidst much fanfare, on 2 December 1997, the insurgent Parbattaya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) and the Government of Bangladesh signed the CHTs Peace Accord. Since the accord, a hundred arrests and over a dozen killings have taken place. The three extrajudicial executions of Jummas (hill peoples) on 16 October 1999 is one more reminder that the peace accord seems to have been written on sand. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's repeated promises not withstanding, 86 cases filed against 672 members of the JSS during the 25 years of insurgency are yet to be withdrawn. The cases should have been withdrawn in February 1998 after the surrender of arms as per the terms of the peace agreement. The Awami League Government in Dhaka, caught between the army and an opposition that is less than reasonable has decided that the implementation of the terms of the Accord can wait. Dhaka's procrastination on the District Council Bills, nomination of the members of the Regional Council, establishment of a Land Commission, rehabilitation of the internally displaced Jummas and returnee refugees and withdrawal of military camps bode ill for an uneasy calm that hovers over the sylvan hills of CHT.

The Government of Bangladesh announced the formation of the CHTs Regional Council under the leadership of Mr Shantu Larma, the JSS supremo, in September 1998. The JSS leaders refused to take charge of the Regional Council until May 1999 due to differences with Dhaka on a range of issues. Apart from passing the Bills for the District Councils and the Regional Councils in a controversial way, little has been done to implement the Accord. The returnee Jumma refugees and internally displaced Jummas have not been rehabilitated. Although the Government announced the establishment of the Land Commission to settle the land disputes, it is yet to start functioning. The Government of Bangladesh has shown little interest in the most crucial issue - the return of usurped lands to the indigenous Jummas.

A mere 29 camps out of about 500 military camps in the CHTs have reportedly been withdrawn since December 1997. The army continues to violate human rights. Most of the recent victims have been members of Hill Peoples Council (HPC), Hill Students Council (HSC) and Hill Women Federation (HWF) which have criticised the Accord. They hold that the Accord failed to address the question of constitutional recognition of the distinct identity of the Jummas. They 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 three military cantonments in the CHTs at Dighinala, Ruma and Alikadam continue to remain. Although the CHTs Accord had proposed to set up a "Land Commission", there is a legitimate fear that the Government would settle the illegal settlers on Khas (village common) lands. The Government of Bangladesh has also provided impunity to the security forces who committed serious human rights abuses in the last 25 years. Many fear that such blanket impunity will only encourage more human rights abuses. Given Dhaka's track record, the fears are not unfounded.

On 16 October 1999, Mr Dipon Chakma, 15 years; Mr Tinamoni Chakma, 38 years and Mr Sukomol Chakma, 40 years were killed at Babuchara Bazaar under Dighinala Thana. The Bangladesh army personnel organized a reprisal attack on the Jummas after one Bangladesh army personnel was beaten up by the Jummas for molesting a Jumma girl named Ms Sulata Chakma at a corner of the Babuchara Bazar. Jumma children and women were reportedly dragged out of shops and beaten with wooden sticks. More than 60 people were injured.

The Khagrachari District administration formed a three-member committee headed by the Additional District Magistrate to probe the incident at Babuchhara Bazar in Dighinala thana. The move however, has evoked little confidence. The army and settlers perpetrated a massacre on 17 November 1993 at Naniachar. More than 40 indigenous Jummas were killed at Naniachar Bazaar by Bangladesh army and the settlers. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions in his report to the 51^st Session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/1995/61) stated that he was not provided with full information into the killings at Naniachar by the Government of Bangladesh. The Special Rapporteur urged the Bangladesh Government to " fulfill its obligations under international law to clarify the circumstances of each alleged violation of the right to life with a view to identifying those responsible and bringing them to justice, and to take appropriate measures to prevent similar acts from happening in future "

The Government of Bangladesh ordered a judicial inquiry headed by Justice Habibur Rahman to inquire into the Naniachar massacre. The Justice Habibur Rahman Commission report was submitted to the Government of Bangladesh on 26 May 1994. Until today, the Government of Bangladesh has failed to make the report public. To add insult to injury, Jumma activists have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the "Naniachar riot".

On 11 February 1998, Mr Sachib Chakma, a leader of the Hill Peoples Council was arrested alongwith his two colleagues, Mr Jyotimoy Chakma and Mr Tapan Jyoti Chakma from Naniachar Bazaar under Rangamati district. They were charged in two different cases with killing and arson at Naniachar Bazaar on 17 November 1993. The first pertained to the alleged assault on one Mr Gautam Dewan and his colleagues, the second to alleged suspicious activities. When the Government's own Judicial Inquiry Commission Report which reportedly identified the real culprits has not been released, how could the Jummas who were the victims, be arrested is a question that is often asked in the hills.

The Government of Bangladesh has put serious restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly. On 22 April 1999, Mr Putul Chakma, 19 years, son of Mr Bimolendu Chakma of village Babupara, Panchari, Khagrachari district and Mr Suramoni Chakma, 21 years, son of Mr Fagunchan Chakma of Kutukchari under Rangamati district were killed after the Bangladesh Police fired indiscriminately at the indigenous Jummas at Khagrachari. More than 100 were injured. They were participating in a demonstration at Khagrachari. The Government of Bangladesh also banned a rally organized by the HSC, HPC and HWF on 22 October 1999 against the Babuchara killing by imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which prohibits assembly of more than five persons.

The JSS is not oblivious of such large scale arrests and violations. However, given the political threat the HPC, HSC and HWF pose, the JSS apparently has not only tolerated the repression of the Jumma students by the Bangladesh Police but allegedly allowed its cadres to connive with the Bangladesh Police. Although, the JSS raises objections to the non-implementation of the Peace Accord, it maintains a thunderous silence on the human rights abuses by the Bangladeshi security forces. Attempts of the Jumma elders to bridge the differences between the JSS and United Peoples Democratic Front, the parent organization of HSC, HPC and HWF, have failed. The JSS reportedly refuses to talk to those whom it considers "criminals", "radicals" and "renegades". Not so long ago, Dhaka used the same epithets for the JSS cadres. The JSS leaders also reportedly believe that dialogue would give legitimacy to the UPDF. In the meanwhile, fratricidal killings between the JSS and UPDF continue.

The CHTs, sandwiched between the Arakan hills of Burma and the North East 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.

For two and half decades 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. The "Planned Population Transfer" of over half a million Bengali plains settlers worsened the situation and created a permanent focus for violence between the illegal settlers and the indigenous Jumma peoples. The consistent human rights abuses including massacres of the Jummas by the Bangladesh security forces and the illegal plain settlers forced 70,000Jummas, about 10% of the total Jumma population to seek shelter in Tripura State of India in 1986, 1989 and 1993. Over 10,000 Jumma refugees were forcibly repatriated by the Government of India to the Chittagong Hill Tracts in February and July 1994 and March-April 1997. The rest returned after signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord.

The Delegation of the European Union in Dhaka in many press conferences has made it clear that unless the Accord is implemented, they will not provide aid and assistance to projects in the hills. It is apparent that the more astute donor agencies do not rush in with aid for development in a situation that is as yet, unclear. They are conscious that Civil society amongst the Jumma peoples which was torn asunder by the 25 years of insurgency must be given an opportunity to develop. They are also conscious that mainstream Bangladeshi NGOs should not be given the primary task of undertaking development in the CHTs. The nascent NGOs of the indigenous Jumma peoples must be supported if trickle down theories are to work.

The non-implementation of the Peace Accord increases the division amongst the Jummas and weakens Jumma civil society. The appointment of an independent monitoring agency by the European Union or the United Nations to assist and facilitate implementation of the Peace Accord would be useful. The calm is uneasy, it could well be the lull before the gathering storm.

-Human Rights Features

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