CHT:
Mahalchari Violence and Some Questions
Rabi
Shankar Chakma
The incident of violent attack
on the hill people in Mahalchari is not the first of its kind.
There have been many such attacks on them in the past. It
follows the same pattern of violence that the hill people
have been witnessing for the last two and a half decades.
But what is unique about the Mahalchari incident is that it
is the first time that both the old and new settlers irrespective
of religious affiliation teamed up together to attack the
hill people.
The incident has its origin
in the alleged kidnapping of Rupam Mahajon, a Hindu businessman
in Mahalchari under Khagrachari on 24 August. On 26 August
in an apparent retaliation, the settlers and local Bengalis
attacked hill people's villages while the military provided
protection to the attackers. The attack left two hill people
including an elderly person dead and scores of others injured.
The attackers set 348 houses belonging to the Hill people
including 4 Buddhist temples on fire. There have also been
reports of widespread looting, raping of women and harassing
Buddhist monks. The actual casualty in terms of property destruction
is yet to be ascertained.
The incident has once again
brought to the fore the role of the military and the civil
police administration in the CHT. The primary responsibility
of these state agencies is to provide safety and security
to the citizens. They are supposed not to discriminate against
any section of the citizens while performing their duties.
Judging by this standard, have they been able to perform their
duties? The answer is too obvious. They have miserably failed
the hill peoples in this respect. They have failed to protect
the hill people. True, the hill people do not look upon the
military as protector of their safety and security. But when
the hill people went to the nearby police and army camps for
help, the on-duty officers advised them to flee. If the security
personnel and law enforcing agencies do not come of help in
times of need and instead become the cause of great insecurity
for the hill people, then there is every reason to be concerned.
If even after the CHT accord the mindset of the military has
not changed, then there is every reason to believe that it
will never change. Following the incident the army came up
with the statement that the action of the settlers was triggered
by the alleged kidnapping, as if reprisal attacks are permitted
by law. In a series of reports on the Chittagong Hill Tracts
the Amnesty International has condemned such reprisal attacks
on the hill people. Reprisal attacks are also prohibited by
international law.
Nothing can justify the Mahalchari
incident. The alleged kidnapping of Rupom Mahajon cannot be
an excuse for launching attack on innocent people. Two wrongs
cannot make a right. If the alleged kidnapping is proved to
be true, then the kidnappers must be brought to book no matter
whoever they are or whichever party they belong to. In no
circumstances the general public should be allowed to retaliate,
let alone incite or abet them in such acts of violence.
The role of the civil administration
also raises questions. There has been report in the national
newspapers that the Minister for CHT affairs and many other
ministers in Dhaka knew about the incident only after reading
the news in the newspapers. The concerned authorities in Dhaka
received reports on the incident through their own channel
only after two days of the incident. One wonders what the
district administration in Khagrachari was doing before, during
and after the incident. If such is the state of affairs in
the district administration, one can well be sure of more
troubles in store for the common people. The failure of the
civil administration is so glaring that the Dhaka administration
has been forced to recall the DC of Khagrachari. The district
administration has failed not only to prevent the incident,
but also to deal with the aftermath. It has failed to grasp
the gravity of the situation and to react accordingly. Relief
was so negligent that it seems like a few drops of water in
the ocean. Yet, considering the other aspects of the CHT situation
such as the uncalled-for intervention of the army in the affairs
of the administration, the DC is merely a scapegoat in the
blame game.
The Mahalchari incident has
once again brought to the fore some of the basic questions
that need to be addressed if we are to establish permanent
peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. First, the question of
the security of the hill people. Who they shall look to for
their security? If the state consistently fails to provide
security to their life and property, who will provide it?
The all pervading sense of insecurity of the hill people stem
from the fact that incidents of violent attack on their life
and property are not just sporadic, they have become quite
systematic. Yet, the question of their security has failed
to find place in both official and intellectual discourses.
Let us now turn to the land
question. Land is the pivot around which all other issues
revolve. Over the years the hill peoples have not only been
marginalized and become minority in their homeland, they have
also been alienated from their own lands. And despite the
CHT accord, which provides for the formation of a Land Commission
to settle land disputes, the process still continues. The
accord broadly says that "the Land Commission shall settle
disputes in accordance with laws, customs and procedures prevalent
in the CHT". The overall purpose of the land commission
is to restore land to the rightful owners.
This brings us to the issue
of the settlers - the poor landless Bengalees, who are occupying
vast tracts of land belonging to the hill people. They were
brought into the CHT during the late seventies and early eighties.
Although they were promised land and rehabilitation, they
have been living on free rations since their arrival. The
CHT treaty has failed to address their issue. Not a single
word has been written in the accord as to what would happen
to them. Mere mention of "permanent residents" and
"non-permanent residents" was not enough. It should
have been mentioned explicitly that they would be resettled
in phases outside of the CHT. Now the question is how long
will the government provide free ration to the settlers and
for what purposes? It is a stupid thing to keep up an easy-to-solve
problem artificially at the cost of national exchequer.
The land and settlers issues
are inextricably linked together. The land problem cannot
be resolved without addressing the settlers issue. What will
the government do if the settlers have to vacate land by the
order of the Land Commission? In that case where will the
settlers go? Is there no government responsibility to rehabilitate
them? These and many other important questions must be addressed
if we wish to establish genuine peace in the CHT.
Let me finish this piece by
returning to where I began. The whole nation is outraged by
the Mahalchari incident. This reminds us of the days of Logang
and Longudu massacres. Although the incident is of serious
nature calling for urgent intervention, the government seems
to be still sitting on its hands. Formation of a parliamentary
team without mentioning its terms of reference cannot be the
answer. The government must take adequate and effective measures
to rehabilitate the victims, bring the perpetrators to justice
and prevent recurrence of such violence. Failing this, the
government will have to pay a high price.
[The writer is Member, Convening
Committee United People's Democratic Front (UPDF)]
The article was published
in Bangladesh Observer on September 14, 2003
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