Why was Ranglai Murung arrested?

Hill Watch Human Rights Forum
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Human Rights Review: Issue 01: May 27, 2007

MR. RANGLAI MURUNG, a prominent national minority leader, Headman of Rainkyong Mouza and chairman of Sualok Union Council, was arrested by security forces on 23 February 2007 from his Ujani Para residence in the southern district town of Bandarban. The charges brought against him range from possessing illegal arms to grabbing government lands to misappropriation of relief materials. (Special case No. 13/07 and GR 31/07, Bandarban Thana case No. 11(2)07)

He is alleged to have been subjected to brutal physical torture during custody and was admitted to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

The trial of his cases will soon draw to a close and the judgment is expected in a week. He is being tried under a speedy trial court. Formal charges were framed against him on May 9. The court took depositions of witnesses on 10, 11, 15, 17, 21 and 22 May. There is allegation that army officers in civil uniforms were present during depositions to intimidate or influence the witnesses.

Mr. Ranglai Murung appears to be the most vocal spokesman and defender of the rights of his community in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. He is also the Bandarban District Convenor of Movement for the Protection of Land and Forest in CHT and chairman of Mrochet, a social welfare organisation of the Murung people. He was always in the forefront of protest movements against the decision to grab their community-owned land to expand military training facilities in Bandarban. Months before his arrest, he played a crucial role in organising a rally in Bandarban town against continuing land grabbing spree.

Because of his active opposition to the expansion of military training centre at the cost of displacement of hundreds of Murung families, the military considers him to be a nuisance and arrested him at the first opportunity immediately after the declaration of state of emergency in the country.

The allegation of recovering illegal arms and ammunition in his house at the time of arrest is absolutely false. A Jumma rights activist, who has worked on a documentary on some indigenous nationalities of Bandarban, on condition of anonymity said “I have learnt that Mr. Ranglai Murung did possess a licensed weapon. Therefore I refuse to buy the claim that the army has found illegal arms during the time of his arrest.” He also believes that all other cases against him are false. Reminding us of the fact that Mr. Ranglai won the best UP chairman title, he said the allegation of misappropriation of relief funds is simply untenable.

Expressing concern over the continuing marginalisaton of the national minorities in Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Jumma leaders in Bandarban unanimously said that Mr. Ranglai was arrested for two obvious reasons: firstly, to remove the obstacle to the plan of military expansion; and secondly, the military wanted to send a stern message to the other objectors that if they continue to protest against the plan they would definitely face the same consequences as did Mr. Ranglai Murung.

Because of the state of emergency proclaimed on 11 January 2007, no protest rallies could be held against his reprisal arrest. The failure of the national human rights organisations to voice against his arrest is also palpable. In view of this, the intervention by the government of India has been a welcome one. According to a press report, the government of India sought clarification from the government of Bangladesh about the arrest and detention of Mr. Ranglai Murung. However, it is not known whether the government of Bangladesh has sent any reply in this regard or, if it has, what it actually contained.

The Murungs, also known as Mro, are one of the most backward nationalities in CHT. With a population of about 60,000*, they make up the second largest indigenous community, after the Marmas. The government of Bangladesh took no measures to uplift their socio-economic standards. On the contrary, hundreds of thousands of acres of their communally-owned land have been taken away on various pretexts to facilitate expansion of Bengali settlements. The arrest of Ranglai Murung only shows the desperateness of the government of Bangladesh and the army to wipe out the ethnic Jumma nationalities from the map of the CHT. In these circumstances, the international community must intervene with the government of Bangladesh in an effective way to save one of the most vulnerable communities on earth.

*A census conducted by Mro Social Culture in 1995 says that the Mro population then was 59,748. However, the government census of 1991 puts the number at 22,178 persons. The wide difference is believed to be due to the fact that the enumerators never personally visit the Murung villages situated in the remote and almost inaccessible hill ranges.

......................................................................................
Hill Watch Human Rights Forum provides accurate, objective and reliable information on human rights abuses in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. For further details contact: hwhrf_99@yahoo.com or hwhrf.cht@gmail.com

Bangladesh: A new political party in the making?

LATELY, much is being talked about the formation of a new political party in Bangladesh. The newspapers are daily feeding us news about it. The spectacular open revolts by some Awami League and BNP stalwarts in the last few days should be viewed in this context. It would be naive to think that the rebel politicians’ moves are not calculated, and that their sudden discovery of non-existence of democracy within their respective parties has nothing to do with the Law Adviser Barrister Moinul Hossain’s pledge to provide necessary help and cooperation to the honest politicians. He seems to be adamant in his resolve not to go back to the square one with either Awami League or Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) forming the government. If we connect the dots we will find ample evidence to suggest that a new political party is now “under construction”.

But how will this party look like? According to press reports, reformists within AL, BNP, Jatiya Party and some so-called leftist leaders are involved in the process. One of the founders of BNP and its ex-General Secretary Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi is being projected as the possible convenor of this party. Although the name and the constitution of the new party are yet to be finalized, it is likely to be floated immediately after the restrictions on indoor politics are lifted. Previously, Nobel Laureate Dr. Yunus showed his unruly political ambition and announced the name of his political party – the Nagorik Shakti or Citizen’s Power. However, when he saw the response was not so encouraging he withdrew himself from the process. The micro-credit guru must have understood that politics is not a “micro affair” and is not as easy as it seems to be from outside.

It is still premature to say whether the initiative to form a new party will be successful or if it somehow comes into being, whether it would be able to attract the common people and generate enthusiasm. Mr. Qureshi is a renowned journalist, but he lacks both personal charisma and a strong political base with a definite ideology, which are considered assets in politics. In all likelihood, a new party without charismatic leadership will make little difference in the overall political configuration and dynamics of the country. With the same old folks, it is most likely that it would be the proverbial old wine in a new bottle. And of course an odd addition to the existing list of one hundred or so political parties.

..............................................

AI Report 2007: Chittagong Hill Tracts Forgotten

THE London-based human rights organisation Amnesty international yesterday, 23 May, released its annual report. The document - Amnesty International Report 2007 - is the group's annual assessment of human rights country-by-country. It is available on its website at http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Homepage.

As soon as it was put on the website, I enthusiastically downloaded a copy and took a quick look on it. I typed “Chittagong Hill Tracts” and clicked search, but to my utter surprise and dismay failed to find any entry. Then I went through the Bangladesh chapter to try to find if the word “minority” was mentioned. But I was disappointed again. To be honest, I find it quite intriguing, because even lesser known (not in negative sense) Uighur community in China, national minorities of Myanmar and Hmongs of Laos have found special mention in the report. Kashmir and Tibet have also been dealt with adequately. Only the poor Chittagong Hill Tracts is missing!

Then, does it suggest that there have been no incidents of human rights violations in 2006 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts? Has peace at long last descended on the repressed hills? Far from it. Despite the CHT treaty of 1997, human rights violations continue unabated. The aim is to suppress the dissenting voices offered by UPDF and its associated organisations. The year 2006 has been no exception. Political repression reached a high pitch in that year. An incident will best illustrate the deterioration of the human rights situation in CHT.

On 5 March 2006, security forces led by one Captain Zahid entered into Khagrachari District Court without permission from the sitting judge. Captain Zahid took away two Jummas Shuchil Kanti Chakma and Kamala Ranjan Chakma, who were arrested from Mahalchari the previous day, out of court custody by force. He then photographed them after putting weapons in their hands. Khagrachari District Bar Association condemned the incident, but no action has been taken against the delinquent officer. (Cited in Delhi-based Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network’s report “Then and Now: Repression on the indigenous Jumma peoples of Bangladesh”).

Throughout the year arrests of innocent people, communal tension and land grabbing continued. In a remote village in Rangamati district, security personnel attacked a wedding party and shot dead the bridegroom. On 3 April, the Maischari settler attack took place. At least four Jumma women were raped and scores of innocent villagers wounded in that attack. The incident attracted national media attention and the Jumma people boycotted Boisabi festival in protest.

The CHT failed to attract AI attention in the past. In 1999 massive crackdown began on UPDF. Scores of its members and supporters were subjected to unlawful arrest and detention. In one single incident in Chittagong 45 UPDF members and sympathizers including Prof. Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University and Bangladesh Chattra Federation leader Maruf Hassan Rumi were arrested and the founding anniversary programme of the Party was foiled by using brute force. On 22 April 1999, two persons were killed when the police opened fire indiscriminately on a peaceful rally of the Hill Peoples Council, a front organisation of the UPDF. On 16 October 1999, three Jummas were killed in a joint attack by Bangladesh security forces and the settlers in Babuchara under Khagrachari district. In yet another communal setter attack hundreds of Jumma houses were burnt down in Ramgarh. Many other cases of HR violations were reported throughout the year. And yet, the AI maintained complete silence. Since the CHT accord, the only incident that found a place in AI report of 2004 is the Mahalchari settler attack in which two Jummas died, ten Jumma women raped and hundreds of houses in 10 villages were burnt to ashes.

The deafening silence of Amnesty International is an ominous sign. It will definitely send a wrong signal to the government of Bangladesh. Further more, it has all the potential to encourage the security forces to continue to ride roughshod over the human rights of the Jumma people in CHT.

The war on terror has seized much of AI’s attention and its annual report 2007 has offered a scathing criticism of the most appalling human records of the world’s most powerful governments and rightly so. However, in doing so, the AI should not have forgotten the most vulnerable communities of the world.

.......................................

Less Than Zero

Naeem Mohaiemen, Rahnuma Ahmed
[Samakal, May 13, 2007]

http://shobak.wordpress.com/2007/05/16/zero/

[Blog editor's note: This is a translated version of the original Bangla article titled "Amader Bioger Khatar Manushjon" published in Samakal. To read the original Bangla article please visit: http://shobak.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/biyogerkhata.pdf
(if you can't read PDF, you may need to download Sutonny font). (HTML)http://www.shamokal.com/details.php?nid=60687]

THE Sadarghat mayhem and ten deaths is another headline of lives choked off, too soon and for unfathomable reasons. Whatever the actual sequence of events, the morals squad is certain it’s all due to oposhongskriti. Allegations of “dancing girls”, sex, and alcohol — the story grows in every telling. A patronizing attitude towards youth (that has to be protected from itself) presumes that the only solution is to erect a Saudi style “Department To Promote Virtue & Prevent Vice.” Good luck.

But something else about this tragedy caught my attention. Along with horrific pictures of young bodies being pulled out of the water, newspapers reported that three investigation commissions had already been formed to investigate the deaths. Not only that, they had been ordered to submit their report within twenty fours. Speedy justice…

By relevant coincidence, another news was published on the same day. A one-person investigation committee was finally formed to look into the brutal torture-murder of Adivasi activist Chales Ritchil. A committee headed by retired judge Mohammed Rafiuddin. After calling a few lawyer friends, I couldn’t find anything about this particular judge’s track record. Low profile personality: perhaps a good thing, perhaps not.

Here’s an equation circling in my head. When the victims of senseless tragedy are Bengali, our government has the ability to put together not one, but three investigation committees overnight. When the suspect villains are working class launch workers, “youth gone wild”, or everyone’s favorite monster-under-the-bed oposhongskriti, the justice system goes into hyper-drive. People will be arrested, punishments doled out, licenses taken away, and new rules dreamed up to control behavior.

But when the case involves an Adivasi — by our reckoning a sub-human — it takes over a month of sustained national (and international) outrage, a petition signed by over 500 citizens (petitiononline.com/CholesR1/petition.html), alert notices from groups like Human Rights Watch, and diplomatic back-channel conversations to finally push the government to appoint a ONE-person committee. The announcement may also have been timed to avoid embarrassment for Faruq Sobhan’s goodwill tour of the US. How much headway one retired judge will have, in investigating a case that involves powerful quarters, is pretty clear to me. And if justice was the intention, why is the family still not being allowed to file a case?

We have seen many committees in our lifetime, they’re often just a process to mothball controversy. Perhaps the committee will discover that Chales was running, or fell from a window, or was trying to fight back, and somehow in that process destroyed his eyes and testicles, break his fingers, and sustain massive injuries all over his body. Gravity is your friend.

Power always counts on short memories — we will forget and move on, we always do. The government is also short sighted in thinking that closing ranks and protecting their own is more important than setting an example by punishing torturers.

But why get upset only at this government? The rot starts at the root of history, and it starts with all of us. Sheikh Mujib led a movement based on opposition to an imposed “Pakistani” identity, destruction of language, and refusal to give regional autonomy. He then turned around and said to the Paharis, only two years after liberation, “Forget your ethnic identity, be Bengalis.” The 1970s version of shushil shomaj, vocal on other issues, quietly went along. Mujib’s baton on ethnic minorities was picked up by Ziaur Rahman, then H M Ershad, then…on and on.

After shafting the CHT Paharis and Flatland Adivasis for decades, we were quaintly shocked when Paharis picked up guns, and Adivasis picked up protest banners. You’re supposed to be gentle people — available as exotica and national color, not as equals who fight back and demand rights.

Bangladesh for Bengalis. Paharis and Adivasis, if you don’t like it, there are now excellent bus services to India. Allah Hafez. Justice and rights — those big words are for us, no space for you at the table.

Until our fundamental national racism is shattered, one-person committees, delayed and deferred, can only be window-dressing. We will continue to be the masters. And you — well you’ll be dead, arrested, tortured, marginalized, jobless, poor.

Less than zero
........................................

Writer's comment:

Anthropologist Rahnuma Ahmed encourages many of us to practice mental
decolonization, by returning to writing and working in Bengali. This
is especially relevant for those educated in English systems, either
in Bangladesh or abroad. Rahnuma has been practicing this for years,
but many of us lag because we grew up in Bengali medium education but
never learnt to type in Bengali. The Bengali keyboard is far more
complex than English-- qwerty skills don't transfer.

A Bengali newspaper editor recently said to me, "what's the point of
writing for so few people?" He was referring to the fact that the
largest circ english language paper is still dwarfed by Bengali
language papers' circulation. The counter argument (in praise of
English) can be the need to connect local and global struggles, which
needs the universal connector.

Is writing in English fundamentally an elite exercise in this country?
Or is there a way to change this? I have been infecting my English
text with Bengali words (untranslated) but this is only a stopgap. Can
we imagine a totally hybrid ("mongrel" to detractors) language in our
futures?

Meanwhile, fed up with my typing recalcitrance, Rahnuma recently
dropped off a Bengali keyboard at my home. No more excuses....

This joint editorial below was published only in Bengali (in SAMAKAL),
and for a change not published in my usual English haunt DAILY STAR.

The Freedom Industry and Student Politics in Bangladesh

By Iftekhar Sayeed, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nov 15, 2006, 23:23

[CHT Watch's note: The following is a part of an article titled "The Freedom Industry and Student Politics in Bangladesh" by Iftekhar Sayeed published in Axis of Logic (http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=150&num=23393)]

The Donor-Driven Nature of “Civil Society”

To remove any doubts regarding the foreign donor-driven nature of civil society, consider another point. Until 1990, ‘civil society’ was silent on the issue of the militarization of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In 1980, General Zia had forcibly re-settled Bengali people from the plains in order to render the indigenous people of the hills a minority in their area, and so quash their nationalist aspirations, as they were perceived to be. Both sides committed appalling atrocities. Regarding the role of civil society in the matter, Jenneke Arens and Kirti Nishan Chakma comment[xxxv]: “this important component of the Bangladeshi society remained mostly silent or ignored the events of militarization and military atrocities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A possible explanation might be its ethnocentric origins (these civil-society organizations are mostly composed of and led by Bengalis and have little or no participation from their indigenous counterparts) and also its preoccupation with the struggle for restoring democracy in the country following the tragic events of 1975, which was considered more important.”

This is disingenuous. As we have seen, civil society played no part in the struggle for democracy: foreign donors brought about democracy in Bangladesh, as in so many other parts of the world. NGOs were perfectly happy to work under General Zia and General Ershad. Indeed, General Zia, who began the militarization of the Hill Tracts, had America’s solid support: he re-introduced capitalism after the socialist interlude ushered in by Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, the country’s first prime minister. He also re-oriented foreign policy away from New Delhi and Moscow towards Washington and the west in general. The process of de-nationalization of industries nationalized by Sheikh Mujib that General Zia had started was continued by his successor, General Ershad – and so was the process of militarization of the Hill Tracts.

The authors continue: “From the late 1980s and during the 1990s, civil-rights organizations and activists started to become more and more vocal and raised their concerns on the prevailing situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the violation of human rights of its indigenous inhabitants.” That is to say, since the advent of perestroika and glasnost, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union – absolutely keeping in line with donor requirements.

In 1997, a 'peace treaty' was signed between the Awami League government and the insurgents, the Parbata Chottogram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS). However, a faction of the latter broke away to form the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) in rejection of the accord. They are a major presence in the hill tracts, and I spent three hours talking to Ujjal Smriti Chakma, Coordinator, UPDF, Khagrachari District, and Mithun Chakma, General Secretary, Democratic Youth Forum, in September, 2005 at Khagrachari. They deplored the fact that there was now an internecine armed struggle among the hill people themselves. Newspapers regularly report murders of members of one group by those of the other: 2 UPDF men gunned down in Khagrachari[xxxvi] is a typical headline. Things are so bad that the Chakma people I spoke to are terrified of going into new territory in their own hills.

There is, therefore, a low-scale civil war going on at the moment in the hill districts.

One Disinformation Campaign: Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Donors, however, are chuffed. Jenneke Arens and Kirti Nishan Chakma observe: "The accord, by and large, has been accepted by the peoples of the region and by the donor community as well—though one section of the indigenous people has explicitly rejected the accord and has formed the United Peoples' Democratic Front" (italics supplied). They go on to say: " Accordingly, a good number of representatives from donor country/agencies and multilateral development agencies have visited the region, and some of these agencies have started to disburse funds for different development projects. Alongside these initiatives, a number of NGOs—both local and national—are also undertaking development programs. Prospects for peace in the CHT have at least become brighter."

Nothing could be further from the facts on the ground. The hill people are aware that a gigantic hoax has been played on them by the PCJSS, the Awami League and the international community. When I questioned him about the role of NGOs, Mithun commented that they "supply chickens and hens to families" instead of addressing their real issues. Their contempt for NGOs can be easily understood.

Nevertheless, the official, donor line is that there is peace in the hill tracts - and Bangladeshi civil society goes along with that piece of fiction.

Consider two examples:

Banglapedia[xxxvii] - the national encyclopaedia of Bangladesh - was published in 2004 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The most eminent intellectuals of the country contributed. I consulted the CD-ROM for information on the hill tracts. The article on "Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord" did not have a single word to say about the UPDF! Then I tried the article under "Parbatya Chattagram Jana-Samhati Samiti" - again, there was no word on the UPDF. In the index, I typed in "United People's..." and that's as far as I got.

The UPDF, and therefore dissent regarding the peace treaty, does not exist.

The next shock came when I bought a copy of Tanvir Mokammel's documentary on the hill districts and the political situation there, called Kornophulir Kanna (Teardrops of the Karnaphuli, 2004). There were many interviews in the film - but not a single UPDF member appeared before the camera, and the acronym never came up!

When the Daily Star magazine[xxxviii] interviewed Tanvir Mokammel, he was never asked why he had excluded the UPDF in his documentary. Instead, we find exchanges of the following kind:

DS: What are the issues you strove to highlight in the film?

TM: The intention of the film was not to blame anyone in particular but to find a solution to the problem. My assessment is, the greatest hindrance to have [sic] a healthy relationship between indigenous people and Bengalees is non-communication. The two parties hardly know each other. From this gulf of unknowing of each other emerges the serpent's egg.

But surely, the hill people know each other - why then are they killing each other, holding each other for ransom, extorting money from each other....? No question, no reply.

The film, unfortunately, has been banned by the government; however, it would appear that the director was perfectly capable of considerable self-censorship himself.

Since the UPDF does not exist per donor policy, civil society has denied their existence.


Media Complicity with The Donors

And the Daily Star has actively connived at this distortion and spread of disinformation. "Over 250,000 people in the Chittagong hill tracts speak Chakma", observed the Daily Star in its coverage of minority languages[xxxix]. Yet the newspaper knows very well that the Chakma people speak a dialect of Bengali, the language of the majority. "The Chakma have discarded their original Burmese language and today speak a variant Bengali dialect" observes the Encyclopaedia Britannica[xl]. Mithun Chakma admitted the same when I asked him about his language. This piece of disinformation is necessary to prop up the “Peace Treaty”; if the donors admit that the Chakmas speak Bengali, then [the premise of] their original grievance not only evaporates, but actually proves embarrassing. The Daily Star is involved in the process because of the close ties between the newspaper and donors - for instance, the editor's wife, Shaheen Anam, has been selected by donors to be the team leader for the mega-NGO, Manusher Jonno! Civil society in Bangladesh is a close-knit, family concern (just like Bangladeshi culture).[xli]


The Powerful NGO Alliance Against the UPDF

If one visits the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) web site (www.ti-bangladesh.org), one comes across an article on the democratization of the Chittagong Hill Tracts[xlii]: as one would expect from an organization funded by DFID (The UK Department for International Development), NORAD (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation), DANIDA (the Danish International Development Agency) Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), USAID, Royal Netherlands Embassy, ActionAid Bangladesh and Transparency International, Berlin, Germany, the UPDF has been completely airbrushed out of the picture. This curious omission appears to be totally at odds with the Code of Ethics of the organisation, which states in section 1.3 that "TIB is committed to values of democracy, justice, rule of law, transparency, accountability, integrity and impartiality (italics original)." Perhaps the trustees felt that the UPDF did not merit impartial treatment. (Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of the Daily Star, is also a trustee of TIB.)

During my last trip to Khagrachari in July, 2006, I spoke with members of the UPDF in their pukka, new premises (the first had been burnt down in 2003 by their archrival, the PCJSS, and the last office where I’d met with them in 2005 had been a mere bamboo shack). Mithun Chakma and others were peeved that the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a self-styled “civil society think tank”, had held a conference in nearby Rangamati on the situation in the hill tracts without inviting the UPDF to participate. They said they learnt about the shindig from newspapers and TV only after it was over (as expected, ‘regional dialogues’ of the CPD are publicized by Channel-i, The Daily Star and its sister vernacular paper Prothom Alo. At the 26th meeting of the Board of Trustees of the CPD, the two newspapers agreed to provide matching funds for the CPD’s activities, including the regional ‘dialogues’.[xliii]) This is tantamount to asking the ruling party of a nation to a dialogue on the politics of the country while keeping out the opposition!

Iftekhar Sayeed
Dhaka, BANGLADESH
e-mail: ifti@bangla.net
alternative e-mail: if6065@yahoo.com

.....................................................................

The Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Chittagong Hill Tracts in the south-eastern corner of Bangladesh is home to different minority nationalities who differ markedly from the dominant ethnic Bengali people of the plainland in respect of ethnicity, religion, culture, custom, tradition and lifestyle.

Collectively known as Jumma people, these minority nationalities are not recognized in the national constitution of Bangladesh and are subjected to mounting injustice and repression.

Since Bangladesh came into being in 19971, a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing has been put in place to wipe out these people from the map of the CHT. To achieve this strategic objective, the government of Bangladesh has done two things: first it has brought approximately 400,000 Bengali settlers into the CHT from 1979 to 1984 and secondly, deployed one-third (80,000 personnel) of its regular troops to the area. This has resulted in the huge deterioration of human rights situation: more than a dozen massacres and mass killings took place in which hundreds of Jumma people were killed.

The Jumma people organized themselves into a resistance movement and waged an armed struggle under the leadership of Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS).

In December 1997, JSS signed a peace deal with the government of Bangladesh and bade farewell to the struggle. The accord has failed to bring peace in the CHT as it does not fulfill the basic minimum demands of the Jumma people. Therefore, the Jumma people rejected the treaty and began to organize themselves under a new political platform in the name and style of the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) founded on 26 December 1998. During the last eight years, the Party has been able to gain overwhelming support in the CHT. Recently, it has held its first national congress in Dhaka and elected a new central committee with Praist Khisha and Rabi Shankar Chakma as its president and General Secretary respectively. The congress has vowed to carry on the struggle for FULL AUTONOMY through peaceful and democratic means.

Present situation in CHT
Despite the government- JSS treaty, the overall human rights situation has not improved at all. Military presence is still all pervading and military operations, raids, tortures, arrest and detention of innocent people are still going on. On the other hand, political repression on UPDF and its associated organisations is widespread. Hundreds of their activists have been arrested and put to jail. The party is often denied democratic space and its peaceful public rallies are attacked and disrupted.

Another vexing issue is land. The treaty has failed to restore customary land rights to the Jumma people and land grabbing is continuing unabated. In Bandarban district of Southern CHT, thousands of acres of land belonging to the Jumma people have either been already taken away or are in the process of being acquired in the name of expansion of military facilities.

Setter Attack
In August 2003, the Bengali settlers attacked 10 Jumma villages in Mahalchari Upazilla (Sub-district) in Khagrachari district. The attack - which left two Jummas killed, 10 women raped and Buddhist monks tortured - was aimed at grabbing Jumma land and turning the area into a Bengali dominated one.

There are many such incidents of attacks and other human rights violations which go unreported in the national media outlets.

Speak out
It is about time the international community spoke out aloud about human rights abuses in the CHT. Please urge the government of Bangladesh to stop human rights violations in CHT and start a political dialogue with the Jumma political parties aimed at finding a durable peace in the area.

To the caretaker government of Dr. Fakruddin Ahmed:
The CHT people have been subject to mounting neglect during the previous governments. The CHT people hope the interim government of Dr. Fakruddin Ahmed would take courageous steps and try to make amend the historical injustices meted out to them.