The political experiment to evict the indigenous Jumma peoples of CHT is not a new agenda. It started soon after the partition in 1947 and still continues.
The massive communal and arson attack on four indigenous Jumma localities in Langadu, carried out by the Bengali Muslim settlers with the support of army and police on June 2 this year mirrors the 1971 atrocities which had been carried out by the ,Pakistani occupation army with the help of Razakars.
The unconscionable Langadu attacks
Though many of us were not present at the spot physically, we still received the news and its subsequent updates through social and print media.
While I was going through my Facebook account, I stumbled on a photo of a scorched body of an old woman of about 75, named Guna Mala Chakma. She was one of the victims who failed to flee and died on the spot, burning possibly inside her own house during the Langadu arson attack.
I attempted to empathise, tried to imagine her painful struggle till the last breath. Tried to feel how pathetic and brutal the death was. But the question that is relevant now is, would these victims get justice? The latest attacks at Langadu on Jumma indigenous people are not new, they are a terrible repetition of oppression and violence. And these kinds of continuous communal attacks on indigenous communities will turn the entirety of CHT into an abyss of uncertainty.
We should not forget that inequality and oppression are the root causes of revolution. It is high time for the Bangladeshi government to understand the sentiment of the indigenous people of the country.
The latest attacks at Langadu on Jumma indigenous people are not new, they are a terrible repetition of oppression and violence
Twenty years in a loop
They have waited for the last 20 years since signing the CHT Accord on December 2, 1997. During these 20 years, the face of the CHT has changed a lot, but the Accord remained unchanged.
Instead of improving the CHT Accord, they have played with the emotions of the CHT Jumma peoples. They have perpetuated mendacious propaganda to sideline the Jumma peoples’ demands for basic human rights. In the last 20 years, mistrust had been created in CHT, lives and rights had been wagered for political gain.
And this mistrust and tension between the government and Jumma people will reverse the CHT dynamics into how it used to be.
So the government must take the issues of CHT very seriously and must rebuild trust immediately. As a concerned citizen of this country, I will definitely don’t want to see any more of riots, conflicts, or bloodshed game in CHT. We must stop the political blame game and instead concentrate on sustainable peace-building process in CHT.
From the very beginning of our independence, political experiment with the intention to eradicate the CHT Jumma peoples have failed again and again.
They have tried to oppress us with military forces. They have tried with multiple fake development projects, identifying the CHT issue as an economic problem.
Will there be a change?
But we haven’t seen any change yet, rather the problems continue to sit still on the table. Now the question is: How long will the experiments continue? The “state” should not forget that every action has a reaction.
The government should stop lying, and should come up with constructive dialogue with the regional political leaders about how to implement the CHT Accord as soon as possible. And the government should come up with a permanent solution to this holistic issue and ensure peace.
John Tripura works for the Kapaeeng Foundation.