Indigenous Jumma People`s Network, USA

The ancient history of Bangladesh is fragmentary in nature mainly due to lack of records and adequate research. Between 321 BC and 750 AD it was part of three Buddhist Empires: Maurya (321BC- 185 BC), Gupta (320-499AD) and Harsha (606-647AD). The Pala dynasty directly ruled Bengal during 750-1150 AD under the Buddhist King Gopala until he was subjugated by the Hindu Sen Dynasty. The rule of the Sen Dynasty witnessed large-scale persecution of the Buddhists and as a result the Brahmanic Hinduism in Bengal largely replaced Buddhism. It was about this time that Muslim traders from the Arabian Peninsula used to visit its ports and the process of preaching Islam ensued. Today, Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim country in the world with 88% out of a population of 126 million[i]. Due to cultural oppression and religious persecution, the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh , mostly in CHTs, all of lineages that stretch into antiquity, are subsisting under hostile and trying circumstances of repression and poverty.          

Bangladesh is a country with an abundance of natural resources in which multi ethnic, multi-religious groups live since ancient times. It has a rich heritage. A study of its history, over centuries reveals that about 45 indigenous groups or Ādīvasi communities[ii] have been living in different parts of Bangladesh . They are different from the majority Bengalis in respect of racial origin, history, language, culture, tradition, religion and way of life. Their culture, religion, tradition and even the languages are different from one another. There is an indigenous population of about 1.06 million in Bangladesh  Unlike the identity and the rights of Bengali people their identity and rights are not recognized in the constitution of Bangladesh.

It is worthwhile to mention that Chittagong and the CHTs are a small percentage in comparison to the whole of Bengal . During the Muslim invasion in the 12^th century this area was under the rule of Burma (Myanmar ). According to records the Chakma aborigine capital was “Champaknagar” which has been identified in North India . Prince Vijaygiri who came out for territorial expansion from it and was able to establish his suzerainty over many countries. Historically when we look back into the history of Chakma we see that they have lived for five hundred years in Myanmar and migrated to Alikadam in Chittagong District in 1418/19 A.D. 

They ruled Chittagong and CHTs till 1666. During this period, the territorial control of this region went into the hands of the successor of Mohammad Bin Bhaktiyar. And then the Bengali Muslims started settling in Chittagong .  The Buddhists who migrated under the rule of Burmese rulers, returned to Burma after the establishment of Muslim rule. In 1712, the Chakma King after a brief skirmish with Mughals paid a tribute of twelve mounds of cotton to the Mughal court and retained their sovereignty. In exchange, the Mughals got their rights of trade again, mostly in cotton. In 1760, Kashem Khan, the then Nawab of Bengal leased out the Chakma area to the British East India company. But the Chakma King Sher Daulat Kha fought many battles against the British. During this period, he refused to accept the British rule. In 1785, Chakma King Jan Box Kha singed a peace treaty with the British in Calcutta (now Kolkata) the fort of British East India Company and finally accepted the British subjugation.

Then the Chakma queen Kālindi gradually moved from Chittagong to Rājānagara, at the border of Chittagong . The present indigenous minority Buddhists gradually settled down from Chittagong in the CHTs. It is regrettable that many Buddhist monasteries that were left were gradually destroyed by the Muslims. 

The CHTs, basically, is a land full of ravines, hills and forests, and the most undeveloped region of Bangladesh . This former undivided district is now divided into three districts, namely, Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati. The CHTs is inhabited mostly by at least 13 indigenous ethnic groups with 10 distinct dialects[i]. At the time of partition of Indo-Pak in 1947, the indigenous population of the district was more than 98%[ii].

From time immemorial, unfortunately, the indigenous people of CHTs have been living in a hostile environment, both natural and artificial. Their struggle for survival, beyond the imagination of human beings, surpasses all the records of struggles of human existence elsewhere. Even then, their existence is really at stake. A number of reasons can be attributed to this; 

After 1947, the first serious blow to their existence came in early 1960s, when the then Pakistan Government constructed a hydroelectric dam across the river Karnafuly at Kaptai. As a result, a vast artificial lake was created submerging more than 54,000 (fifty four thousand) acres of cultivable land and about 100, 000 (one hundred thousand) indigenous peoples, mostly Chakma were rendered homeless and lost their sources of livelihood. Finding no way out for a living, more than 65, 000 (sixty five thousand) indigenous people migrated to the neighbouring country, India . The rest of them tried to settle on hilltops and the remote jungle. Among them more than 20,000(twenty thousand) lost their lives unnoticed and uncared for, due to starvation, malnutrition and of various diseases like malaria, jaundice, cholera etc. The then Pakistan Government undertook a programme for the rehabilitation of the uprooted people. But the whole programme was unplanned. Further, due to negligence, indifference and corruption of officials in charge of implementation of the programme, the affected people could reap very little benefit out of it.

In 1971, a large number of indigenous youths both male and female took part in the liberation war of Bangladesh . During this war the Pakistani military personnel killed many indigenous people, destroyed their villages and several thousands were rendered homeless. After the liberation of Bangladesh, the new Government also could not take into confidence and trust the indigenous people of CHTs and always misunderstood them as a hostile element and as a threat to the independence of Bangladesh because the then Chakma Rājā Tridiv Roy took the side of the Pakistani Government during the liberation war.

The irony of fate is that during the Pakistan period the then Government treated the CHTs as anti-Pakistani and immediately after the liberation of Bangladesh , the same CHTs indigenous people are being treated as anti- Bangladeshi.

At present the situation of the CHTs as well as the armed encounter between the Bangladesh army and the “Shanti Bahini” (an armed cadre fighting for the indigenous autonomy of CHTs) is well known to all. As a result of that encounter a large number of innocent indigenous people lost their valuable lives, thousands of them were rendered homeless and lost all their sources of livelihood and many more are still leading downtrodden lives, unnoticed and uncared-for. Meanwhile, several thousand indigenous people mostly Chakma crossed the international border for fear of their lives and took shelter in the State of Tripura India in 1980s where they are languishing in the refugee camps. 

It is worth mentioning here that the Indo-Pak subcontinent was partitioned on the basis of two religions-nations theory by the British govt. namely Hindu - India and Muslim -Pakistan . The indigenous people leaders of CHTs hoisted the Indian flag in this region on the 15^th August 1947. But on the 21^st August 1947 the Pakistani army pulled down this flag.  Since then the govt. of Pakistan has given step-motherly treatment to the indigenous Jumma  people and have looked at them in a suspicious manner.

When Bangladesh came into being from Pakistan in 1971, the CHTs tribal group headed by Mr. Charu Bikash Chakma met the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh , Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A few days later on the 15^th February 1972 , another delegate of CHTs group headed by Mr. Manabendra Narayan Larma (Chakma), chairman of tribal militant party, met the Prime Minister and submitted a memorandum demanding autonomy of the CHTs. But this demand was not met by the govt. of Bangladesh . On the contrary at a mass gathering held in Rangamati in 1972 the then prime minister called upon the tribal people to be Bengalee forgetting their respective entities. Consequently, on December 16, 1972 the constitution of Bangladesh was adopted embodying that all nationals of Bangladesh would have one identity – Bengali[iii]”. As a result, in the same year, the armed force of tribal people named “Shanti Bahini” (later on it has changed its name to “Parbatya Chattagram Janasanhiti Samiti” PCJSS) and the united party of the CHTs came into existence and started fighting. After more than two decades of armed fighting in CHTs a peace accord was reached on the 2^nd December, 1997 between the Govt. of Awami League, People’s Republic of Bangladesh and PCJSS.

Following this accord the people from home and abroad were interested to know about CHTs and its people. But it is needless to say that due to political unrest the indigenous people’s economy collapsed. Not much publicity was made in this regard. Some local writers tried to publish their views comprising hundred years of histories but these were in vain due to adverse local administration and economic conditions and situations.