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| Chakmas, Bangladesh
© Mark McEvoy/Survival |
Several communities of Jummas, the tribal peoples of the Chittagong Hill
Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, have been attacked by Bengali settlers. The
settlers, with the tacit support of soldiers, attacked Jumma villages in the
Khagrachari Hill District area on 26 and 27 August, killing Binod Bihari Khisha
and eight-month-old Chikku Chakma, raping Jumma women, injuring many other Jumma
people and burning down houses, leaving hundreds homeless.
Jumma' is the collective name given to the eleven tribes of the CHT. The
tribes, which number in total around 600,000 people, are the original
inhabitants of the area and are ethnically, culturally and linguistically
distinct from the rest of the population of Bangladesh. In the past, Bangladesh
governments have seen the CHT as empty land onto which they can move poor
Bengali settlers. In the last 50 years, the Jumma peoples have gone from being
practically the sole inhabitants of the area, to being almost outnumbered by
settlers. In addition to the loss of their land, they have suffered decades of
persecution at the hands of the settlers and the military. A peace accord signed
in 1997 should have brought an end to the conflict, but the government has
refused to implement most of its provisions.
See How you can Help the Jumma peoples.
