Hill Voice, 5 October 2025, Special Correspondent: The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) has released a report on the communal attacks carried out by settler Bengalis and Government forces on the Jumma people in Khagrachari and Guimara on 27 and 28 September 2025.
The report has been published based on the following recommendations: To take measures for judicial inquiry into the communal attacks that took place in Khagrachari and Guimara on 27 and 28 September, 2025, To provide appropriate compensation and medical treatment to the persons killed and wounded and the affected families, on the part of government, To bring those involved in the communal attacks in Khagrachari-Guimara under the law and ensure illustrative punishment.
The report stated that on 27 September 2025, in the Singinalla area of Khagrachhari Sadar, a Jumma schoolgirl of class eight was gang-raped by three Bengali settlers. In the aftermath, clashes broke out between Jumma students and locals on one side and Bengali settlers on the other, leaving at least three Jumma people seriously injured. On 28 September 2025, in Guimara’s Ramsu Bazar of Khagrachhari district and its surrounding Jumma villages, combined attacks were carried out by the army, Bengali settlers, and outside miscreants. As a result, three Jumma people were killed and more than 20 others were injured. In addition, 54 Jumma-owned shops, 26 houses, and 16 motorcycles were set on fire and completely burnt down in Ramsu Bazar. The total damage to Jumma property is estimated at around 250 million Bangladeshi taka.
The report further stated that between January and September 2025, there were 21 incidents of violence against Jumma women and children perpetrated by Bengali settlers, outside Bengali laborers, and individuals. These included rape, rape followed by murder, attempted rape, and sexual harassment. As a result, 29 Jumma women and children have so far been subjected to human rights violations. Although the number of women and children who have fallen victim to such violence over the decades is countless, there is hardly any precedent of justice being delivered for these crimes in the hills. To this day, in cases of violence against women-particularly rape, rape followed by murder, and abduction-not only has justice been denied, but even proper investigations have rarely, if ever, been conducted.
The report mentioned that the UPDF (United People’s Democratic Front) had a role in instigating the communal incident in Khagrachhari. It stated that on 26 September 2025, a mass rally was organized under the banner of “Jumma chatra-janata” in Khagrachhari Sadar to protest against the gang-rape and, more broadly, all forms of violence against women in the hills. However, some members of the UPDF allegedly entered the rally and attempted to create disorder and provocation in various ways. Similarly, in the case of the Guimara incident, the violence was also blamed on instigation by the UPDF.
It was further stated that in protest against the gang rape of a Jumma woman in Khagrachhari, UKyanu Marma, General Secretary of the Khagrachhari district unit of the Bangladesh Marma Student Council (BMSC), initially took the lead in the movement. However, the BMSC later issued a statement clarifying that the organization was not formally involved in the blockade programs held on 27 and 28 September 2025.
It was thus inferred that the Prasit faction of the UPDF attempted to divert the student-led protest against the gang rape of a Jumma woman by Bengali settlers into a different course, by inciting the otherwise legitimate movement in various ways. In addition, the report noted that a few bloggers and individuals-identified as supporters, advisers, or associates of the UPDF both at home and abroad-were also seen making divisive, provocative, and reckless statements on social media.
The PCJSS report further stated that since the signing of the CHT Accord in 1997, at least 22 communal attacks have taken place in the CHT under the patronage of certain vested quarters. The main objective of such communal attacks, it noted, is to turn the non-Muslim-inhabited CHT into a Muslim-majority region. To achieve this, Jumma people have been targeted through economic destruction, land grabbing, eviction from their ancestral lands, rape and rape followed by murder of Jumma women, and above all, by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror among the Jummas.
The report stated that, in fact, there is no alternative to implementing the 1997 CHT Accord in order to achieve a political and peaceful resolution of the CHT problem. It emphasized that the path to solving the CHT issue lies solely in the full implementation of the Accord.
