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www.jpnuk.org.uk
History of Chittagong Hill Tracts in brief
There is very little documentation available on the early history of
the Chittagong Hill Tracts. However, there is evidence of the mention
of a place known as Chacomas in central Chittagong Hill Tracts,
probably referring to the land inhabited by the Chakmas, in the 1550s
where a Burmese king claims himself to be the “highest and most
powerful king of Arakan, Tippera, of Chacomas and of Bengala”,
moreover, one of the earliest maps of Bengal drawn by Jao de Barros
& Gastadi indicate the presence of a Chakma kingdom in the region.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts existed as an independent territory and did
not come within the authority of outside colonization until the 18th
century. Right up to the time of British entry into the Hill Tracts,
the different peoples of the Hill Tracts functioned as independent
people.
During the rule of the Mughal Emperors over India, the region remained
outside their direct control, despite attempts made to bring it under
their sphere of influence.
In 1760, the British East India Company annexed neighbouring Bengal and
then turned its attentions towards the Hill Tracts as it was rich in
natural resources. They began a military campaign in 1776 and met
strong resistance from Sher Daulat Khan, the Chakma Raja. The fighting
continued for a decade and the British imposed an economic blockade
cutting off essential supplies. Finally, in 1787, Raja Jan Bux Khan,
was forced to reach a treaty with Lord Cornwallis, the governor-general
agreeing to pay 20 maunds of cotton to the British for the right to
trade and putting an end to the conflict. This cotton tribute was also
extended to the Marmas and eventually the area came to be known as
Kapas Mahal (Cotton Area).
In 1860, the British declared the Hill Tracts a district within Bengal
and appointed a superintendent. Even with the introduction of British
power, the region remained under the rule of the three chiefs or rajas
in their respective circles, i.e. the Chakma, Bohmong and Mong, while
continuing with the payment of the tribute in cotton. The Mong circle -
located in the north - which was under the jurisdiction of the Chakma
Rani, was created by the British even though the predominant people in
that area at that time were Tripuras – 18,559; the Chakma population
was 6,980 while the Marmas accounted for 6,704 persons only. The
appointed chief was related to the Bohmong chief.
In 1900, the British enacted the CHT Regulations for administrative
purposes. The most relevant in these regulations was to preserve the
area as an indigenous region separated from the plains of Bengal. The
regulations placed restriction on outsiders to enter and reside in the
region and the creation of the Frontier Police composed of hill people.
In 1935, the government of British India declared the CHT to be an
“Excluded Area” i.e. an exclusive homeland for indigenous people with
restrictions to
settlement on non-indigenous persons. In 1947, when the subcontinent
was divided into two sovereign states – India and Pakistan, the CHT,
despite having a 97% non-Muslim population was included into Pakistan.
The new government respected the “excluded area” status until 1964,
when the government abolished it by making an amendment to the
constitution, against the wishes of the people and in contravention of
stipulations in the constitution.
In 1954, the inhabitants were given
voting rights to the legislative assemblies for the first time.
Furthermore, despite opposition from indigenous leaders, the government
created a massive lake by creating a dam for generating electricity
that submerged 54,000 acres of agricultural land - 40% of the total
cultivable land and displaced more than 100,000 persons in central Hill
Tracts. Around 40,000 Chakmas were forced to seek shelter in India.
Inspired by the independence struggle for Bangladesh in 1971, the
leaders demanded autonomy from the highest authorities of the new state
but their demands were rejected and no mention of the special
status
of their homeland was mentioned in the country’s first constitution.
To safeguard their identity and culture the hill people formed a
political movement by the name of Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS)
under the
leadership of a lawyer, Manobendra Narayan Larma . The members of their
armed wing known as “Shanti Bahini”began to attack security personnel
and later on settlers and the non-combatant indigenous persons got
involved in the conflict leading to around 10,000 deaths.
A massive government transmigration policy was implemented in the early
1980s inducting up to 400,000 plains people into the area giving rise
to conflicts over the control for land between the two communities –
settler and local. This influx has drastically modified the demographic
composition by increasing the settler population from 3% in 1947 to 49%
as per the official census of 1991 and virtually converting the
indigenous people into a minority in their own land.
At the height of the conflict in the mid-1980s, massive human rights
violations were committed on the hill people by government security
forces and settlers that led to a mass exodus of indigenous inhabitants
to India. In response to protests by various indigenous leaders
including the Chakma chief, to investigate and punish the culprits of a
major massacre in Langadu in 1989, the military authorities put Raja
Devasish Roy, the Chakma chief under house arrest for a number of days.
Finally in December 1997, the JSS reached a deal with the government
and signed an agreement known as the “Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace
Accord”. The main provisions of the accord, i.e. declaring the area to
be “a tribal-inhabited region”,
demilitarization, total rehabilitation of the returnee refugees
including internally displaced families and the full empowerment of the
newly created Regional Council. Major provisions of the accord have not
been implemented from the
government’s side thus giving a boost to the already violent political
scenario between those that support the accord and those who oppose it.
However, a Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs has been created
with an indigenous member of parliament of the ruling party, Mr. Moni
Swapan Dewan as deputy minister and Mr. Jyotirindra Bodhipriyo Larma,
the head of the JSS has been appointed chairman of the Regional
Council. Regular reports of human right abuses and the entry of new
settlers still continue to be reported from the region.
Sources:
“The Politics of Nationalism” by Amena Mohsin (1997);
“Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the CHT” by Rajkumari Chandra
Roy (2000);
“Counting The Hills”by Mohammad Rafi & Mushtaque R.Chowdhury (2001);
“The Departed Melody”by Raja Tridiv Roy (2003);
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