Insurgency of Jumma People

 The Armed resistance of the Jumma people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) has come to an end through a peace deal signed between the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS) and a parliamentary committee of the government of Bangladesh. The historical peace accord signing ceremony held on the 2^nd of December 1997.The so called peace accord could not bring about a durable solution to the CHT problem and even failed to established rights of the Jumma people.

Bangladesh emerged as an independent state on 16 December 1971.Jumma people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts(CHT) took part in the war of independence along with other Bangladeshi people .It was Jumma peoples hope that a new sovereign country and new constitution will safeguard political rights and distinct identity of the Jumma ethnic minority . Soon after the Pakistani soldiers had withdrawn from CHT, the extreme racist and Islamic fundamentalist Bengali 'Mukti Bahini' (Freedom Fighter) entered into CHT and took out their anger of extreme nationalism on the Jumma people. The Mukti Bahini fell upon the innocent Jumma people, killing, looting, arsoning and raping women, burning houses and villages of Jumma people. The Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters of Bangladesh) went on a systematic rampage against the Jummas in the CHT. On 5 December 1971, 16 Jumma people were massacred by the Mukti Bahini at Panchari. Another 18 were killed at Dighinala. On 14 December 1971, the Mukti Bahini killed 22 Jumma people at Kukichara in Khagrachari district, the northern part of the CHT.

Still, Jumma people kept demanding for autonomy in a democratic way. The government of Bangladesh did not respect their fundamental rights and did not write even a single word in the constitution regarding the entity and safeguard of the Jumma people. Rather, the first prime minister of Bangladesh directly declared imposition of Bengali nationalism on the indigenous Jumma people. The ethnic cleansing policy of Bangladesh government led the CHT undergoing militarization. Three cantonments were established in Dighinala, Ruma and Alikadam in 1972.  Wide range of human rights abuses of Mukti Bahinee and ethnic cleansing policy of the government led by Sheik Mujibur Rahaman resulted in armed revolution of the Jumma people against Bangladesh governments. Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), a political platform was launched on 15 February 1972 under the leadership of M. N. Larma.

Against this backdrop, on 15 February 1972, a delegation of the Jumma people led by M. N. Larma, then a member of parliament, and Raja Maung Prue Sein Chowdhury, Mong Chief, the then Advisor to Bangladesh government on tribal affairs, called on the Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in protest against mass killings and atrocities committed by the Mukti Bahini in CHT and submitted before him a written memorandum with four-point charter demanding autonomy of the people of CHT. The four points were:

(1)   Autonomy in the Chittagong hill Tracts with its own legislature;

(2)   Retention of CHT Regulation of 1900;

(3)   Administrative set up of the tribal Chiefs be retained; and

(4)   There must be a Constitutional provision with a guarantee that no constitutional amendment on matters relating to CHT will be made without the prior consent of the people of the CHT.  

M. N. Larma led another delegation to the Bangladesh Draft Constitution Formulation Committee on 24 April 1972 with a view to placing before it a memorandum containing five point demand which includes a demand for Regional Autonomy with its own legislature for the people of CHT and to see there point were enshrined in the constitution. The first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not only rejected these demands but also infuriated the Jumma leaders with saying- “No, we are all Bengalis, forget your ethnic identity, be Bengalis”. He also threatened him with dire consequences and to flood CHT with Bengali Muslim. Every effort ended in failure and Jumma leaders termed as separatist and hostile to government of Bangladesh.

M.N Larma, the then supreme Juumma leader including other top members of PCJSS and the Hill Students' Association were all dismayed and gave up hope for guaranteeing national existence through constitutional process and took up armed struggle in order to spearhead movement for autonomy. Shanti Bahini (Peace Force), an armed wing of PCJSS was created under the name of Shanti Bahini (Peace Force). A guerilla network and a parallel administration were set up in the entire CHT.

In the meantime, the government in a bid to forestall the arrest of the movement of the people of CHT has started increasing the number of its police posts and deployed the army, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), and other Para-military forces in the CHT. Thousands of innocent people and many party workers were victimized due to brutal suppression of forces. By this time, government sponsored to bring thousands of Bengali Muslim families into CHT from other districts of Bangladesh with a sinister motive to outnumber the indigenous population of CHT. Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman was killed in a bloody military coup on 15 August 1975. Martial law was proclaimed throughout the country. 

General Ziaur Rahman took over power on 7 November 1975 through a coup. His government branded the CHT problem as economic as well as separatist movement of the Jumma population and he sought a military solution. A memorandum was also submitted to then Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator Major General Zia by the Jumma people in January 1976. General Zia responded to the PCJSS activities with a sharply increased military presence in the CHT. The government issued military administration in the CHT named ‘Operation Dabanal’ (Wildfire).

General Ziaur Rahman kept the flow of infiltrating Bengali Muslim into CHT till he was killed in an abortive coup in 1981. Then Justice Adbus Sattar came into power as President of Bangladesh. During his tenure, infiltration of Bengali Muslim was carried out more nakedly. Lt. General H. M. Ershad toppled Abdus Sattar in a bloodless coup in 24 March 1982 and Martial law was declared throughout the country. Thus, it is evident that from Ziaur Rahman to H. M. Ershad, Bangladesh has been ruled by successive military juntas and some times with a titular President as head of the state but themselves remaining as Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country. Both successive military and so called democratic government came to state power in Bangladesh until the sighing of the so called Chittagong hill Tracts peace accord was signed on 2^nd December 1997. Within that two and a half decades 13 major massacre, innumerable incidents of mass arrest and physical torture on the innocent Jumma people, setting ablaze  village after village belonged to Jumma people and other form of human rights abuses committed by the Bangladesh armed forces collaborated with the Bengali Muslim infiltrators. Some 65 thousands of Jumma people had to take refuge in India. Shanti Bahini (peace force) guerilla forces also confronted Bangladesh armed forces militarily.

Though the armed insurgency came to an end, the movement struggle for rights still continue in democratic means.

 “NO FULL AUTONOMY, NO REST”