Chittagong Hill Tracts Conflict

Chittagong Hill Tracts Conflict
Date 1977-1997 Location Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh Result Peace deal
Belligerents
Shanti Bahini	Bangladesh
Commanders and leaders
Manabendra Narayan Larma, Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma AKA Shontu Larma, Indian RAW Officials	24th divisions GOC
Strength
20,000	22,632 (1991 June estimated) Army-10,575 BDR-6,767 APBN-1,785 Police-3,505
Casualties and losses
320 (1979-1991, November 30) KIA-236 Wounded-84 Arrested-1,892	351 (1979-2008) Army-176 BDR-97 APBN-23 Police-43 Ansar-8 VDP-4
1,677 (1,163 Bengali & 514 Tribal) civilians killed (1979-2008)

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Conflict was the political conflict and armed struggle between the Government of Bangladesh by the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini over the issue of autonomy and the rights of the indigenous peoples and tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Shanti Bahini launched an insurgency against government forces in 1977, and the conflict continued for twenty years until the government and the PCJSS signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997.^{[1] [2][3][4][5]}

Background

The conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts dates back to when Bangladesh was the eastern wing of Pakistan. Widespread resentment occurred over the displacement of as many as 100,000 of the native peoples due to the construction of the Kaptai Dam in 1962. The displaced did not receive compensation from the government and many thousands fled to India. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, representatives of the Chittagong Hill Tracts such as the Chakma politician Manabendra Narayan Larma sought autonomy and recognition of the rights of the peoples of the region. Larma and other Hill Tracts representatives protested the draft of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which did not recognise the ethnic identity and culture of the non-Bengali peoples of Bangladesh. The government policy recognised only the Bengali culture and the Bengali language and designating all citizens of Bangladesh as Bengalis. In talks with a Hill Tracts delegation led by Manabendra Narayan Larma, the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman insisted that the ethnic groups of the Hill Tracts adopt the Bengali identity.^[6][7] Sheikh Mujib is also reported to have threatened to forcibly settle Bengalis in the Hill Tracts to reduce the native peoples into a minority.^[6][7][8]

Insurgency

Consequently, Larma and others founded the Parbatya Chhatagram Jana Shanghatti Samiti (PCJSS) as a united political organisation of all native peoples and tribes in 1973. The armed wing of the PCJSS, the Shanti Bahini was organised to resist government policies.^[7][9] The crisis aggravated during the emergency rule of Sheikh Mujib, who had banned all political parties other than his BAKSAL and the successive military regimes that followed after his assassination in 1975. In 1977, the Shanti Bahini they launched their first attack on a Bangladesh Army convoy.^[7][9][10] Since the 1980s, the PCJSS gave a new identity to the hill people. It was Jumma nationalism. It claimed that the thirteen different ethnic communities in the CHT together constitute the Jumma nation. The nomenclature was adopted to unify the hill people under one banner in order to counter the hegemony of the majority. More importantly, it was an assertion of their equality and an attempt to come out of the negativism associated with tribalism. The PCJSS also demanded that a constitutional guarantee be given to their cultural distinctiveness.

The Shanti Bahini divided its area of operations into zones and raised forces from the native people, who were formally trained. The Shanti Bahini attacked Bengali police and soldiers, government offices and personnel and the Bengali settlers in the region. The group also attacked any native believed to be opposing it and supporting the government.^[11] The Military of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Police, Bengali settlers, the Shanti Bahini and its supporters have been suspected of committing human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing.^[12]

Government reaction

At the outbreak of the insurgency, the Government of Bangladesh deployed the army to begin counter-insurgency operations. The then-President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman created a Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board under an army general in order to address the socio-economic needs of the region, but the entity proved unpopular and became a source of antagonism and mistrust amongst the native people against the government. The government failed to address the long-standing issue of the displacement of people, numbering an estimated 100,000 caused by the construction of the Kaptai Dam in 1962.^[13] Displaced peoples did not receive compensation and more than 40,000 Chakma tribals had fled to India.^[13] In the 1980s, the government began settling Bengalis in the region, causing the eviction of many natives and a significant alteration of demographics. Having constituted only 11.6% of the regional population in 1974, the number of Bengalis grew by 1991 to constitute 48.5% of the regional population.

In 1989, the government of then-president Hossain Mohammad Ershad passed the District Council Act created three tiers of local government councils to devolve powers and responsibilities to the representatives of the native peoples, but the councils were rejected and opposed by the PCJSS.^[4]

Peace Accord

Peace negotiations were initiated after the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, but little progress was made with the government of prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, the widow of Ziaur Rahman and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party.^[14] Fresh rounds of talks began in 1996 with the newly-elected prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib.^[14] The peace accord was finalised and formally signed on December 2, 1997.^[5]

The agreement recognised the special status of the hill people.^[4] Under the Accord a Regional Council (RC) has been formed representing the three hill districts local government councils.^[4] The following is the composition of the RC: chairman 1, members (tribal) male 12, members (tribal) female 2, members (non-tribal) male 6, member (non-tribal) female 1. Among the total male tribal members, five will be elected from the Chakma, three from the Marma, two from the Tripura and one each from the Murang and the Tanchangya.^[4] In case of female tribal members one from the Chakma and one from another tribe will be elected. As for non-tribal members two would be elected from each district. The members of the RC will be elected by the elected members of the three hill district councils.^[4] Chairmen of the three hill district councils will be the ex-officio members of the Council and they will have the right to vote. The elected members of the RC will elect its chairman. The Council will be elected for five years. It will coordinate and supervise the general administration, law and order, and development activities of the three hill districts. Tribal laws and the dispensation of social justice will also come under its purview.^[4] It will coordinate disaster management and relief activities with NGOs and issue license for heavy industries. The government will enact laws relating to the CHT in consultation with the Council.^[4]

The Accord also provides for the setting up of a Ministry of Tribal Affairs to be headed by a tribal to look into the affairs of the CHT.^[4] It is evident that the RC is a symbolic institution. Its powers and functions are of a coordinating and supervisory nature. The powers and functions of the district councils have remained the same, though in certain cases amendments have been made in the Act to make them more functional. The accord stipulates that land would be returned to the owners once their ownership rights were ascertained, and a land survey would be undertaken in the CHT to ascertain ownership rights.^[4]

Aftermath

There is no denying the fact that the 1997 peace accord has ensured a pause on long-standing self-determination armed conflict. However, unless the question of autonomy of CHT, which was the root cause of conflict, is resolved by implementing the peace accord and addressing the issues and challenges concerned with such implementation, it would be unrealistic to expect sustainable peace in CHT. The sooner the provisions of the accord are implemented, the quicker will be the mitigation of many of the existing problems and the elimination of the causes of potential conflict. Although there was no time frame in the accord for its implementation, it is time to develop a time-bound action plan so that stagnation in implementation of the various provisions of the peace accord does not create any doubt about a lasting peace. In addition, measure should be taken to ensure constitutional recognition of CHT so that the peace accord can be immune from constitutional litigation. Care should also be taken to reach a political consensus in support of the accord at national as well as regional level before the fragility of the ongoing peace is exposed. In particular, harmony between indigenous and non-indigenous people, who are almost equal in number and almost likewise victims of government policy, is a prime condition for the congenial atmosphere that might accelerate the pace of implementation of the accord.^[15]

References

1. ^ Rashiduzzaman, M. (July 1998). "Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord: Institutional Features and Strategic Concerns". Asian Survey (University of California Press) 38 (7): 653–70. doi:10.1525/as.1998.38.7.01p0370e. JSTOR 2645754. 
2. ^ "Bangladesh peace treaty signed". BBC News. 1997-12-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/despatches/36256.stm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
3. ^ "Chittagong marks peace anniversary". BBC News. 1998-12-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/226373.stm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, 1997". Banglapedia - National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0216.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs
6. ^ ^{a b} Nagendra K. Singh (2003). Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh. Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.. pp. 222–223. ISBN 8126113901. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Bushra Hasina Chowdhury (2002). Building Lasting Peace: Issues of the Implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. http://web.archive.org/web/20060901145334/http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/Research/OPs/Chowdhury/contents/part2.html. 
8. ^ Shelley, Mizanur Rahman (1992). The Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh: The untold story. Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh. pp. 129. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Nagendra K. Singh (2003). Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh. Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.. pp. 229. ISBN 8126113901. 
10. ^ Bangladeshi Insurgents Say India Is Supporting Them - New York Times
11. ^ "Shanti Bahini". Banglapedia - National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0296.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
12. ^ Human rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; February 2000; Amnesty International.
13. ^ ^{a b} "The construction of the Kaptai dam uproots the indigenous population (1957-1963)". http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/C2EA848CB001371D802570B8005A719E?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2007-02-01. 
14. ^ ^{a b} "PCJSS". Banglapedia - National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/P_0088.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
15. ^ Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, “Autonomy for Indigenous People of CHT: Aftermath of the 1997 Peace Accord”, Thomas Benedikter (ed.), Solving Ethnic Conflict through Self-Governance: A Short Guide to Autonomy in Europe and South Asia, Eurac Research, Bozen/Bolzano, 2009, pp.100-103.