U N I T E D N A T I O N S
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities
Working Group on Indigenous Populations
Geneva 26-31 July, 1993
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A submission made by Rajkumari Chandra Kalindi Roy, Mr. Subodh
Bikash Chakma and Mr. Ramendu Shekhar Dewan on behalf of the
Jumma Nation (the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts).
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Madame Chairman, Honourable Members of the Working Group, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Thank you for giving us the floor. We would like to take this
opportunity to introduce ourselves - we are Jumma people coming from
the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh.
We are making this submission to provide the Working Group with
hard facts which, we believe, would help it in setting effective
standards for Indigenous Peoples.
Despite repeated requests by the humane international community,
the Bangladesh Government (BG) has not stopped its ethnic-cleansing
campaign in the CHT. It has not yet done away with the military rule
in the area although democracy has been restored in the rest of
Bangladesh. On the other hand, the BG is setting up more military
camps and bringing in more Bangladeshi infiltrators in the CHT as part
of its Bangladeshization and Islamization of the CHT scheme. In the
past year, over 600 gross human rights violations have been committed
by the Bangladeshi infiltrators in league with the Military Forces.
These violations ranged from looting, arson, religious persecution,
rape to detention, torture, murder and mass-killings. Over and above,
restriction on the free movement of the Jumma people and also on the
supply of essential commodities to the Jummas has not yet been lifted.
In short, nothing has changed in the CHT even after the removal of the
Military Dictator, Gen. Hossain Mohammad Ershad, from power.
The BG is not only massacring the Jumma people but it is also
indulging in the massive cover-up of those massacres, It killed some
1600 Jummas, most of whom were old people, women and children, at
Logang concentration camp on 10 April, 1992. Initially, the BG had
denied having committed this massacre. However, it failed to conceal
the massacre fully because of the presence of a western human rights
activist and her group in the area at the time of occurrence. The
international community was shocked by such horrible mass-killings and
compelled the BG to set up an inquiry into the Logang massacre. The
latter dextrously appointed Justice (retired) Sultan Hossain Khan, a
zealous supporter of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to
investigate the said mass-killings. He toed the Government line,
suppressed information, distorted facts and fabricated evidence.
Therefore, his report is not true, credible and worthy of being called
an impartial one. Justice Khan has certainly attempted to cover up the
large extent of the Logang massacre, to shield Begum Khaleda Rahman,
the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and her Military lieutenants - Gen.
Mohammad Nuruddin Khan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Army,
Maj. Gen. Mahmudul Hasan, the then General Officer Commanding of the
Chittagong Division of the Bangladesh Army, Brig. Sharif Aziz, the
Commander of the Khagrachari Zone and all the Military Commanders of
the Panchari area - from the blame of premeditating and executing the
massacre, and to cover up the Government-funded Bangladeshization and
Islamization of the CHT scheme. We would respectfully suggest to the
Working Group to send a U.N. Special Rapporteur to Logang to find out
the truth.
The humane international community also pressurised the BG to
resolve the crisis in the CHT by political means. To dump her own
blame on the Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS), Begum Khaleda Rahman declared
that the CHT crisis could not be solved politically because of the
resistance activities of the Shanti Bahini (SB), the armed wing of the
JSS. Having heard of her announcement, the peace-loving JSS decided to
facilitate the peace-process again as it had done many times before.
It announced unilateral cease-fire from Aug. 10 to Nov. 10, 1992, and
requested the BG to constitute an All Party Parliamentary Committee to
negotiate with the JSS for a political solution. This suggestion was
strongly supported by most of the Opposition Parties. Yet the BG
rejected the JSS proposal indicating that its announcement was nothing
but a public relations exercise and that it was not interested in
finding a negotiated political solution. However, the compassionate
international community compelled it to form the Bangladesh Government
Commission (BGC) to negotiate with the JSS.
Then the BG set the date and venue of the First Round of the
dialogue for Sept. 12, 1992, at Khagrachari Circuit House, without
consulting the JSS. Even it did not have the elementary courtesy of
notifying the JSS of the framework of the proposed dialogue. The BG
simply announced the meeting on the national Radio and Television
clearly to placate the donor countries. The JSS was unable to attend
the meeting because of the absence of security measures for its
delegation. It, however, still wanted a Dialogue with the BGC and
requested the BG to agree the ground rules through the Liaison
Committee. Ignoring this normal procedure, the BG fixed a new date for
the First Round of Oct. 21, 1992, again without consultation. It began
to appear that the BG was not really interested in talking, nor did it
want a genuine political solution. But the BG went through the motions
of setting up these meetings, while making it impossible for the JSS
to attend, in the hope that the international community would blame
the JSS for the failure. However, it must have realised that the
peremptory way it called the first two meetings would cause an
unfavourable impression, and it did finally consult the JSS before the
third date was fixed, of Nov. 5, 1992. At the First Round, Col. Oli
Ahmed, the Chairman of the BGC, refused to accept the JSS charter of
five demands on the grounds that the demand for a separate legislature
was out side the framework of the Unitary Constitution of Bangladesh.
To test the sincerity of the BG, the JSS abandoned its demand for a
separate legislature, opted for a Regional Council with powers of
internal self-Government, and submitted its charter of modified
demands to the BGC on Dec. 4, 1992, well ahead of the Second Round
scheduled for 26 Dec., 1992.
At the Second Round, the JSS modified demands could not be
discussed because Col. Ahmed did not circulate the JSS charter before
the meeting began. His deliberate dilatory tactics show clearly that
the BG is not negotiating seriously to seek a political settlement. On
the other hand, he commented that the JSS modified demands still
amounted to independence. However, the BGC suggested that the Third
Round would be held in the first week of Feb., 1993, to discuss the
JSS modified demands and that it would set the date for the meeting.
But it did not fix the date nor did it care to notify the JSS about
the cancellation of the proposed Round. So due to the lack of
sincerity on the part of the BG, the Third Round did not take place in
the first week of Feb. The BG continued to drag its feet on the
negotiation till it got past the Bangladesh Aid Consortium Meeting
which, we understand, was held in April last. After getting the
foreign aid, it held the Third Round on 22 May, 1993, and let the cat
out of the bag by spelling out its decision on the modified demands of
the JSS. The BG rejected all the basic and genuine demands of the JSS
confirming the Jumma people's fear that it has no intention to find a
negotiated political solution.
The BG also refused to meet the just demands of the Jumma
refugees. It certainly means that it does not want to normalise the
situation in the CHT for their safe return. Yet the BG is trying to
repatriate them. This hypocrisy clearly exposes its sinister motive.
There is no doubt that it is plotting to solve the Jumma refugee
problem once and for all by killing them after forcibly repatriating
them into Bangladesh. We fervently appeal to you to place the Jumma
refugees under the care of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
till they are repatriated and rehabilitated in their native villages.
We earnestly appeal to you again to pressurise the BG to concede
to the just demands of the JSS.
We would like to thank you once again for giving us the
opportunity to present our statement.
.7.1993 1. Rajkumari Chandra Kalindi Roy
2. Mr. Subodh Bikash Chakma
3. Mr. Ramendu Shekhar Dewan
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/ Director Center For World Indigenous Studies /
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