People
and Culture
The
Chittagong Hill Tracts is the abode of different ethnic
nationalities, such as, Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Murung,
Khumi, Chak, Bawm, Lushai, Pankua, Khiang and Tongchongya.
They belong to Mongoloid racial stock in marked contrast
to the dominant Bengali population of the country. They
are collectively known as Jumma, a word derived from jum
or shifting cultivation. By religion, the Chakmas, the Marmas,
the Tongchongyas and the Chaks are Buddhists; the Tripuras
are Hindus; the Bawms are Christians; and the Murungs and
Khumis practice animism.
These
indigenous groups are in different stages of social and
political development. While the Chakmas, the largest community
in terms of population, achieved high percentage in terms
of education and other social indicators, the Murungs and
the Khumis are lagging behind. The policy of the successive
governments has always been to widen this gap and to divide
them in order to perpetuate ultra-Bengali nationalistic
domination in the area.
The
indigenous Jumma peoples have a long tradition of resistance.
Whenever their independent and unique life style in the
rugged mountainous terrain came under attack, they resisted
collectively. They fought against the aggression of the
powerful Moguls and the British imperialists and had been
able to maintain their autonomy. Today, indigenous Jumma
peoples are fighting for the right to self-determination.
Despite
different national, linguistic and religious identities,
indigenous Jumma peoples share common cultural traits which
manifest themselves in a healthy and harmonious racial environment
in which they live. The root of their common culture is
the system of Jum cultivation, which every of these nationalities
practice. Today, as a result of internal colonization and
continuous marginalization, their common culture and identity
are also facing extinction.
Apart
from the Jummas, the Chittagong Hill Tracts also host a
few thousand non-Jumma microscopic ethnic minorities such
as Santals and Gurkhas. The Santals live in Rangamati and
Khagrachari districts, while the Gurkhas are concentrated
mainly in Rangamati district.
In
addition, the Chittagong Hill Tracts is also populated by
a large number of Bengali people who can be divided into
two categories: the adibashi Bengalis or old settlers and
new settlers. The adibashi settlers are those who have been
settled in the CHT having obtaining permission from the
then British authorities, and hence they are legal, bonafide
and permanent residents of the CHT. The new settlers, on
the other hand, represent those who have entered CHT after
the partition of the Indian subcontinent on 14 August 1947.
According to the Chittagong Hill Tracts manual of 1900,
they are all illegal outsiders in the CHT.
