Mangal Kumar Chakma

The problem of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is a political and national problem. In fact, the CHT crisis is nothing but a produce of ultra-national chauvinism and communal political stand & outlook maintained by the ruling class, ever since independence of Bangladesh. With the aim to resolve this problem through political and peaceful means, the historic CHT Accord was signed on December 2, 1997 between the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS).

Although 27 years have passed since the signing of the Accord, the desired political and peaceful solution to the CHT problem has not yet been achieved due to the failure to implement the agreement. Instead of a political and peaceful solution to the CHT problem, the successive governments continue to adopt a policy of annihilating and suppressing the Jumma people in an undemocratic and colonial manner. As a result, the situation in the hilly areas is becoming more conflictive and violent day by day. The historic opportunity that was created through the signing of this agreement to resolve the political and national problems of the CHT through political and peaceful means, to end the long-standing bloody conflict and inequality in the CHT, and above all, to bring peace and development to the hills, is being exhausted day by day.

Although five political governments and two caretaker governments have held state power since the signing of the CHT Accord in 1997, no government has come forward with political will to implement the Accord. The anti-discrimination student-mass movement in July-August led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5. Then, on August 8, an interim government led by Dr. Mohammad Yunus was formed. Although four months have passed since the formation of this interim government, the government has not yet taken any initiative to implement the Accord. As a result, although 27 years have passed since the signing of the CHT Accord, two-third provisions of the agreement including the fundamental issues remain unimplemented.

The Jumma people hoped that after the Accord, the long-standing bloody conflict and violence in the CHT would end. This agreement will set an example for the world to follow in resolving the problems peacefully. Mutual trust, cooperation and tolerance will be achieved instead of armed conflicts. The Jumma people will no longer be subjected to arbitrary arrest, torture, murder, harassment and violence. Like the citizens of other parts of the country, the Jumma people will also be assured of a safe life. But it is a matter of great regret that since the CHT Accord has not been implemented, the Jumma people as well as the CHT residents have not yet achieved that democratic rule and a safe life free from oppression and suppression. Peace and comfort have not returned to the hills. On the contrary, the situation in the CHT is becoming more conflictive day by day, like the pre-agreement regime.

In the post-Accord period, successive governments have been walking the opposite path of the CHT Accord, i.e., they are marching the aggressive and forceful path of solving the CHT problem through repression like the pre-agreement dictators. As a part of that, the governments are now repressing the CHT like the previous dictators. On the other hand, all the issues of the CHT including general administration, law and order, judiciary, development activities of the CHT region are being controlled by the security forces deployed in the CHT under the authority of ‘Operation Uttoron’, which is acting as one of the main obstacles to the introduction of democratic governance in the CHT, i.e. the special governance system consisting of the Regional Council and the three Hill District Councils.

Influential vested elements of the government are carrying out various conspiracies and propaganda to criminalize the just movement for the implementation of the CHT Accord as a terrorist activity. As part of this, fascist activities such as arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killing, detention putting arms, sending to jail on false charges, beating, harassment, etc. have been intensified by systematically identifying the rights activists and people engaged in the movement for the implementation of the CHT Accord labeling them as terrorists.

The governments have not only stopped at such anti-agreement and anti-Jumma activities, but also, based on the colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’, through vested elements of the government, they have formed armed terrorist groups one after another with unruly, opportunistic and ambitious individuals among the Jumma people and deployed them openly in various places with weapons, thus inciting them against the ongoing movement aimed at implementing the CHT Accord and achieving the right to self-determination of the Jumma people.

In fact, with the support of the government, the vested groups of the state machineries are creating a frightening situation in the area by nurturing and supporting these armed terrorist groups, on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are oppressing the Jumma people in the name of suppressing terrorism. Not only that, they are also supporting opportunistic, power-hungry and greedy people of the Jumma who are associated with national political parties including the ousted Awami League, and are continuing their activities against the CHT Accord and against the interests of the Jumma people.

Instead of resolving communal divisions and tensions, the previous governments have systematically intensified the communal divisive incitement between Jumma and Bengalis to serve their vested interests. In the post-Agreement period, 21 communal attacks have been committed on the Jumma people, including the communal attacks and arson committed on September 18, 19 and 20 and October 1 in Dighinala-Khagrachari-Rangamati by Bengali settlers with the support of vested elements of the state machinery and the ruling class. Moreover, the Bengali settlers are being organized into a communal organization called the Parbatya Chattagram Nagorik Parishad and are being incited to engage in anti-Accord activities, land grabbing, infiltration of outsiders including Rohingyas and inclusion of them in the voter list, communal attacks, violence against women and girls etc.

In fact, instead of a political and peaceful solution to the CHT problem through the implementation of the CHT Accord, the government is implementing a blueprint for the complete ethnic cleansing of the Jumma people by utilizing all possible means. As part of this, it is using development activities as a tool for ethnic cleansing to uproot the Jumma people from their traditional lands, break their economic backbone, and destroy the biodiversity and natural environment of the area. Some of these development activities that are culturally destructive and environmentally hostile to the Jumma people include declaring reserve forests, leasing Jumma people’s traditional Jum-farming land and mouza lands to non-locals, establishing tourist centers by encroaching on Jumma people’s traditional lands, destroying Jumma people’s plantations and houses to build border roads and connecting roads, establishing and expanding security force camps, exploring for extraction of gas and oil in the CHT, etc.

The Jumma people hoped that through the CHT Accord, the unique characteristics of the Jumma-inhabited region of the CHT from time immemorial would be preserved. The national identity, culture, language, customs, traditions, etc. of the Jumma people would be developed and preserved. Through it, the diverse characteristics of Bangladesh’s multi-nations, multi-cultures and multi-languages ​​would be stronger and more strengthened. But instead of implementing the CHT Accord properly and fully, rather the ruling class continuously trampled and undermined the CHT Accord, the characteristics of the Jumma-inhabited region of the CHT, as well as the national existence and homeland of the Jumma people, are about to disappear today. During the tenure of the ousted Awami League government, which was one of the signatories of the CHT Accord, the national identity and existence of more than 51 indigenous nations of the country, including the Jumma people, were threatened by the insertion of the nationalist term ‘the people of Bangladesh are Bengalis as a nation’ in the constitution.

Democratic governance can never develop in the country by keeping one-tenth of the country’s area like the CHT under undemocratic rule. It can never be possible to build a happy, prosperous and peaceful Bangladesh if the people of the CHT are constantly subjected to fascist oppression. In fact, the historic opportunity created by the signing of the CHT Accord to resolve the national problems of the CHT through political and peaceful means, to end the long-standing bloody conflict and division, and above all, to bring peace and development in the CHT through political and peaceful means, by squandering that historic opportunity, it can never bring good results in the larger interest of the country. Therefore, the interim government led by Dr. Yunus will come forward by announcing a timetable-based action plan (roadmap) to accelerate the process of implementing the CHT Accord – this is what the CHT people hope.