[Assam] Should not the CHT indigenous people and the Assamese sing, “We are in the same boat brother”?

[Bartta Bistar]

*Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): The Heartland for the Jumma Insurgency*



*"Viewpoints"*

*
http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2006-12-05&hidType=HIG&hidRecord=0000000000000000140387
*



Monday December 04 2006 15:13:48 PM BDT


<mointawla at hotmail.com>

*Sujan Tanchangya, Thailand* <mointawla at hotmail.com>



It's to be noted that the ethnic Bengali Muslim permanent residents of CHT
have peacefully co-existed with the majority Jumma indigenous people for
centuries. It was only when the illegal Bengali Muslim settlers started to
migrate to CHT from other poverty stricken parts of Bangladesh that this
century-old peaceful co-existence began to collapse.

*****************************************************************************************

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), being the traditional homeland of 11
indigenous communities and the most strategic region of a sovereign country
Bangladesh with an independence of only 35 years or so, has witnessed its
second bloodbath in the form of an insurgency against intruding settlers
after the country's nine months of bloody liberation war against Pakistan.

The historic partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan
(Bangladesh was East Pakistan) was on the basis of religious majority, India
being a Hindu majority with a large population of ethnic indigenous
communities and Pakistan being a Muslim majority, which was somewhat
indifferent to diverse ethnicity and religious diversity.

Fully conceptualizing the future danger of their survival in the hand of a
country which was indifferent to diverse ethnicity, cultures and to a lesser
extent religions and given the fact that CHT was dominated by the eleven
non-Muslim indigenous communities late up to the 20th century, the
indigenous people of the CHT desired it (CHT) be set up as an autonomous
region under the greater Indian constituency.

The Constituent Assembly of India – Vol. II (
http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol7p1g.htm) opines, "It is
obvious that the (Chittagong) Hill Tracts should not go to East Bengal (East
Pakistan/Bangladesh) in view of its predominantly non-Muslim population.

The people themselves are strongly averse to inclusion in Bengal. They
desired that the area should be set up as an autonomous district". However,
to the much displeasure and helplessness of the CHT indigenous people, CHT
was included in East Bengal/East Pakistan.

The biggest attack on the lives, lands and existential survival of the 11
indigenous communities of the CHT under the then discriminative Pakistani
Government was the construction of the Kaptai hydroelectric dam in (1959-61)
which submerged livestock, houses and a large portion of cultivatable lands
of the indigenous people. The most pathetic outcome was that these
indigenous people were not compensated and rehabilitated properly. As a
result, in the eyes of the CHT general public, it was seen as a
discriminatory act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the then Islamic
Government of Pakistan.

After a nine-month of bloody war, East Pakistan with the generous help of
greater India, got independence from West Pakistan in 1971 and came to be
known as Bangladesh. Soon after the birth of a democratic sovereign country
– Bangladesh, the indigenous people of CHT hoped and dreamed that it
(Bangladesh), which fought for its own ethnical identity and language in
which indigenous people also took part, would not repeat the same ethnic
discriminatory superiority and supremacy over other minor ethnic
communities.

But sadly the reality of their hope and dream of living freely and
peacefully in the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh came to an abrupt dramatic
end when the Legislative Assembly drafted and adopted the Constitution of
Bangladesh in an exclusive Bengali and Islamic character. The Late
Manabendra Narayan Larma, a member of the Legislative Assembly, who was the
lone representative of the 11 indigenous people of CHT, opted for a
Constitution that is inclusive to all racial groups, languages, religions
and cultures. He was unsuccessful in his attempt though.

Knowing that the newly drafted and adopted Constitution of Bangladesh does
not reserve provisions for the safeguarding of ethnic identities, languages,
cultures and religions of the CHT indigenous people, a group of indigenous
intelligence led by Late Manabendra Narayan Larma proposed the idea of
setting up the CHT region as an autonomous region with the minimal self
power of safeguarding the distinct identities, languages, cultures and
religions of the CHT indigenous people to the then President Sheik Mijiboor
Rahman. Not only that the proposal was turned down with utter disregard but
the then President was also alleged to have threatened the group with
flooding the CHT with Bengali Islamic intruding settlers, which he actually
did.

These cited fragmented incidents of the recent past started to give rise to
fear and impatience in the minds of the indigenous people of CHT in one hand
and instinct determination to safeguarding their distinct ethnic and
religious identities on the other. And this gave birth to an indigenous
nationalism – Jumma (a generic term referring to all the 11 indigenous
communities of the CHT).

With repeated failures in ethnic clemency and the continuous destructive
flooding of Islamic Bengali intruding settlers accompanied by an armed
convoy of a third or more of the total army of Bangladesh into CHT, the land
of the Jummas, the helpless Jumma people had no choice left but to take arms
into their hands with the sole purpose of resisting ethnic cleansing and
safeguarding their distinct ethnic identities, languages, cultures and
religions.

Obviously, the question of taking arms and engagement into a bloody
insurgency for more than two decades in a democratic country could not have
arisen had the then Government of Bangladesh (GoB) paid a little heed to the
plight of the Jumma people, the sons of the CHT soil, then and there.

After years of ethnic and religious persecution against the Jumma people, a
long awaited peace accord was signed between the GoB and the Jumma people in
1997. The accord was expected to empower the Jumma people in the
safeguarding of their distinct ethnic and religious identities. But sadly
the accord turned out to be a preplanned layout of manipulating the
Government initiated hidden policy of ethnic cleansing and Islamization of
the CHT region with the vital clauses of the Peace Treaty yet to be
implemented.

To add credence to this hidden Islamic policy, so-called journalists,
researchers and even historians like Mohammed Zainul Abedin and M.B.I.
Munshi have tried their best in trying to undermine this Peace Treaty by
reproaching and blaming the so-called 'allies of foreign power' of the CHT
Jumma people as the sole reason behind the Jumma insurgency in the CHT. Due
to their one-sided arguments, their recent writings and all the so-called
researched books and booklets they might have written on CHT lack
impartiality and kind of direct personal experiences of what's really going
on in CHT.

Such impartial and not-true-in-fact writings on CHT only make its real
situation messed up in the minds of innocent liberal readers. In one of my
last articles written in response to Mr. Zainul Abedin's article 'Stop
Propaganda on CHT' I pointed out some of those messed up and one-sided ideas
and falsified information which were the obvious results of the writer's own
confused mind.

In fact, none of their so-called historical and researched writings touched
upon the pathetic plight of the oppressed and suppressed Jumma people. In
stead, without a sense of responsibility they opted to label these repressed
people who have been struggling for their own survival as 'foreign
mercenaries' and 'secessionists and terrorists' of CHT.

Much of their arguments were focused as to who were/are the sons of the CHT
soil. With their own fabricated and often one-sided historical statistics,
they came out with the conclusion that the Bengali Muslims are the sons of
the CHT soil.

But every time, they fail to mention and explain why historical statistics
and census reports show that in 1941 the ethnic Bengali (Islamic settlers
come decades later) population in CHT was only 1.5%, 6.29% in 1951 and
11.77% in 1961. However, recent writings of Mr. Abedin and Mr. Munshi seemed
to suggest that the Bengali Muslims dominated the CHT from 12th to 18th
centuries. If that was the case then, how come that their number is reduced
to only 1.5% in the early 20th century?

One doesn't have to go so far into history, if one with impartiality and
knowledge in logics looks back the immediate past, it would be clear as to
who were/are the real sons of the CHT soil. None but the Jumma people are
the sons of the CHT soil. It was due to this historical fact that the now
defunct 1900 Regulations was introduced which bars outsiders settling into
CHT, the land of the Jummas.

It's to be noted that the ethnic Bengali Muslim permanent residents of CHT
have peacefully co-existed with the majority Jumma indigenous people for
centuries. It was only when the illegal Bengali Muslim settlers started to
migrate to CHT from other poverty stricken parts of Bangladesh that this
century-old peaceful co-existence began to collapse.

Such writings of extremist mental predicaments also try to justify the
illegal Bengali Muslim settlement into CHT within the framework of the
country's Constitution which allows a Bangladeshi citizen to move freely
anywhere in the country. With a wrong interpretation of this particular
constitutional right, the writers seem to suggest that it would not be
considered illegal and violations of human rights if a Bangladeshi citizen
forcefully grabs and confiscates lands, house and private property of
another fellow citizen – a naked truth happening in CHT.

If this is the case then probably Bangladesh would be the only democratic
country in the world where citizens live a life of 'Strength is Might' – the
Law of the Jungle. In a democratic country, it's the duty and responsibility
of the government to protect the private lands, houses and properties of its
citizens. But sadly the Jumma people of CHT are deprived of this democratic
constitutional right.

After arguing for CHT as an integral part of Bangladesh, confused writers
like M.B.I. Munshi again accept the fact that military occupation of CHT is
a reality when he writes "…the Bangladesh military occupied the area under
President Ziaur Rahman and which continues to this day" whereas his own
colleague Zainul Abedin writes "Bangladesh is not an occupation power in
CHT. It can deploy its troops anywhere within its territory".

Such kind of confused contradictory write-ups only confuse the mind of the
innocent liberal readers. However, the reality is that the international
liberal community is no longer ignorant of the fact that the CHT is under
illegal Bengali army occupation and that CHT is the world's most militarized
zone where every five/six Jumma indigenous people have one army as their
shooter.

Again, writers like Mr. Munshi claim that the implementation of all the
provisions of the CHT Accord would only 'undermine Bangladesh sovereignty
and control of the area (CHT)', which is why the Khaleda Government has not
implemented 'all the provisions of the Accord'. As Prajnalankar Bhikkhu has
pointed out to Mr. Abedin who was of the similar opinion, Mr. Munshi too has
no knowledge of political science and public administration. The CHT Accord
was signed by a Peoples' Government which was democratically elected by the
people of Bangladesh.

Whichever government it might be, the successive government is bound to
abide by any deal left unfinished by the previous government. But however,
Bangladesh democracy works the other way round which is why the country
remains one of the poorest and corrupted democratic countries of the world.

It's simply unnecessary and illogical for the part of the writers to
reproach and blame the so-called 'allies of foreign power' for the ongoing
unrest in CHT. When writing on CHT, much time is needed to focus on the
pathetic reality of the recent past and the present. When thousands of Jumma
indigenous people were forced to flee their beloved homeland in the 1980s,
they had no choice but to take refuge in India. Out of humanitarian basis
and under international obligation, the Government of India (GoI) offered
its moral support to these repressed people.

When the existential survival of the Jumma indigenous people was under
threat in their own homeland, the GoI felt pity and morally supported their
struggle in resisting the illegal Bengali Muslim intruding settlers to CHT,
the heartland for the Jumma insurgency. The Jumma insurgency was not to
undermine Bangladesh sovereignty and its territorial integrity. Rather it
was a struggle for the rightful and peaceful existence of the Jumma people
in CHT in the democratic country Bangladesh.

Perhaps understanding this reality, the Awami League Government opted for a
political solution to the CHT conflict, a solution which empowers the Jumma
people for their rightful and peaceful existence in their traditional
homeland, CHT. But however, it and its successive BNP Government so far
failed to live up to the expectations of the Jumma people in particular and
the Bangladesh general public as a whole.

Now that the country's General Election is nearing amidst the ongoing
political uncertainty, the Jumma people of CHT and the country's liberal
public would like to see a future democratic liberal government which will
look into the past and present pathetic plight of the CHT and its oppressed
Jumma people and thus putting an end to the undeclared military rule of CHT
and discrimination, aggression, oppression, suppression and repression of
its indigenous Jumma people – the very neglected citizens of the country.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.assamnet.org/pipermail/assam-assamnet.org/attachments/20061205/587636e6/attachment.htm>