Rakhaine

The Rakhine (Burmese:formerly Arakanese), is a nationality in Burma forming the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State. They possibly constitute 5.53% or more of Myanmar’s total population but no accurate census figures exist. Arakanese people also live in the southeastern parts of Bangladesh, especially in Chittagong and Barisal Divisions. A group of Arakanese descendants, living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh at least since the 16th century, are known as the Marma people. These Arakanese descendants have been living in that area since the Arakanese kingdom’s control of the Chittagong region.

Arakanese descendants spread as far north as Tripura state in India, where their presence dates back to the ascent of the Arakanese kingdom when Tripura was ruled by Arakanese kings. In northeast India, these Arakanese people are referred to as the Mog, while in Bengali, the Marma (the ethnic Arakanese descendants in Bangladesh) and other Arakanese people are referred to as the Magh people.
The Rakhaing is the smallest Indigenous group in Bangladesh. They established their settlement in Cox;s Bazar, Patuakhali and Borguna district about 80% of the Rakhain live in Cox’s Bazar district. Rest of them live in Patuakhali and Borguna district. There were 4049 Rakhain in the Patuakhali region in 1872. The number increased to 16,394 in 1951, but then gradually reduced to 3,713 in 1979 (Bangladesh Statistical Year Book, 1997).
Few of them are living in the Bandarban district. The census of 1991 recorded the number of Rakhain population in Bangladesh at about 16,932 (Khaleque, 1998). The population of Cox’s Bazar district is 1419260 (census-1991, Banglapedia, 2004). So the percentage of Rakhain community in Cox’s Bazar district is 0.95%, Cox’s Bazar sadar upazila is 1.57%, Ramu upazila 0.80%, Chakaria upazila 0.85% (Population census-1991 and Aung, 2005).

What is The purpose of Spreading communalism???

"Recently, in Rouzan, Chittagong, there is an attempt to focus on an incident involving a missing youth named Shibli Sadik, aged 20, and the discovery of his body. This incident has become the center of attention on various social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Some individuals are making efforts to spread communal and divisive narratives surrounding this incident. They are spreading various misleading information and attempting to provoke animosity between Bengalis and hill tribe people. As a result, instances of hate speech and harassment against hill tribe communities are occurring in various places. This is completely unacceptable. It is necessary for everyone to maintain unity."

Regarding the recent incident, it is learned through media that in the Kadlapur area of Rouzan, Chittagong, there is an incident related to a missing youth named Shibli Sadik. He was working under Shibli Sadik in a poultry farm in the hills (Marma community). Even though the matter was resolved by the farm owners, on August 28, Shibli Sadik was abducted, and some of the hill youth working on the farm were also taken away.

Later, the father of the abducted youth went to Bandarban and paid a ransom of two lakh Taka to the kidnappers. However, even after the kidnappers promised to release Shibli Sadik, he did not return home. Consequently, the father of the abducted youth filed a case with the police station, and the police arrested several individuals, including Umang Singh Marma, the main accused in the case, from the Chandgaon area of Chittagong city.

Then, on the night of September 11, a police team led by the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Rouzan police station, along with Umang Singh Marma, recovered some skeletal remains from the jungle of Betbunia Union in Rangamati, a bordering area of Rouzan upazila. Subsequently, with these skeletal remains, the police returned to the police station and headed towards the Kadlapur area of Kadlapur, sparking unrest among the locals.

People threw logs on the road, blocked the police vehicle, and attacked Umang Singh Marma, who was in police custody, leading to a violent clash. The crowd took Umang Singh Marma from the police and lynched him."

After this incident, attempts are being made to spread misinformation through media channels. Through social media, people are posting and creating videos to spread information in a distorted manner. Some have started propagating false narratives, such as 'tribals have killed and eaten the heart' to create hatred within a certain section of Bengalis. This has led to social media users making various allegations. Additionally, in areas including Rangunia and parts of Chittagong city, people are using social media to insult hill people, telling them to 'eat human flesh,' and similar derogatory remarks.

Furthermore, in the adjacent areas of Rouzan, hill students and hill residents are living in fear and distress, as they have become targets of harassment and threats.

The point is, regardless of the offender's identity, they must face punishment. Those involved in the 'heart attack' incident must also be held accountable, and there must be a proper legal process. The country has laws and a judicial system to handle such cases. However, taking the suspect from the custody of the police, lynching them, is a serious crime in itself. It is extrajudicial killing. Therefore, those involved in this lynching cannot escape punishment. They must also be brought within the framework of the law to ensure justice."

On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the police to protect the suspect and ensure their proper processing in court. However, the police failed to do so. Instead, the police took the suspect away from their custody before handing them over to the court, and the suspect was lynched. This is a grave crime in itself. Whether it was due to police weakness or complicity is difficult to ascertain. Because if the police had taken appropriate measures to disperse the crowd and protect the suspect in accordance with the law, the lynching could have been prevented. However, whether the police deliberately allowed the lynching to happen is a matter that needs investigation."

The text discusses the responsibility of the police to protect suspects and ensure they are properly processed through the legal system. It also raises questions about whether the police played a role in allowing the lynching to occur and suggests that further investigation is needed to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Shibli Sadik Hriday murder case is an isolated incident. Such incidents are unfortunately observed in various parts of the country. Those responsible for these crimes are considered criminals under the country's prevailing laws, and they will face legal consequences.

However, the key question here is why this incident is being used as a focal point to exert pressure on an entire community? What is the purpose behind it, and who is spreading this communal hatred? Are there any vested interests involved? These questions need to be answered. Therefore, it is necessary for the government and the administration to keep a close watch on the Rouzan incident to prevent the emergence of any communal situation and take legal action against those who are spreading communal hatred.

The indigenous tribes of Bangladesh: small voices lost in the sea of frustration

Bangladesh, with its broken electoral system, diminishing democracy and neglected human rights, lives in a state of violent peace. The student protests that broke out in August 2018 gave the citizens a glimpse of what order and decency could do for the welfare of the country, only to be buried beneath government clampdowns and violence leading from the ensuing protests by public vehicle operators. Bangladeshis are silenced, exploited, abused and too conditioned to respond with a blind eye to being robbed of their basic civil liberties. So when the voices of the majority have been snuffed out so many times, what hope is there for the people who live on the margins?

The only means, however flimsy, for safeguarding the rights of the CHT people is to have more representatives within the mainstream political parties of Bangladesh.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh is home to the biggest settlements of Bangladeshi indigenous tribes, separated from mainstream Bangladeshis by religion, culture and livelihood. According to the 2011 Census, the indigenous or Adivasi population makes up approximately 1.8 per cent of the total population, but this is a contested percentage given that the tribes report higher numbers. The CHT region was annexed by the British in 1860 and the tribes given autonomy and protection from exploitation of their economic, cultural and social practices. After the division of Bengal, the CHT was made a part of East Pakistan and consequently a part of the modern-day port city of Chittagong. Historically, the people of the CHT tribes, while they still held autonomy over the region, wanted to be integrated with India due to their similarity in cultural and religious practices. This helped paint them as outsiders, not part of mainstream Bangladesh, especially since they refused to adopt Bengali cultural practices and wished to retain autonomy over their land. The conflict with the CHT people has more to do with the land they occupy than their refusal to accept Bangladeshi norms, but it has formed the basis of perpetual strife as the government continues to impose a hegemonic national identity over all citizens.  It has also created grounds for creating impediments to the development of the CHT people, slowing down initiatives for their welfare and education or advancement of their livelihood opportunities.

Bangladesh is no stranger to severe human rights violations and man-made disasters, often with little or no political retribution or actionable response. It is not a safe country for women, whether professional or homemakers, it is not safe for students or activists or progressive thinkers, and it is not a safe country for minimum wage workers. It is understandable that in these conditions, the concern for the voices of the CHT people is muted. But it is vital for the global image of Bangladesh that they not be forgotten. The Bangladeshi government has signed multiple international agreements such as the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (signed in 1979) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified in 2000), and committed to following the Sustainable Development Goals, which include six specific provisions for indigenous populations, about which the Prime Minister has claimed to lead by example. Domestically, the current political administration, during its tenure in 1997, signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord after years of conflict between the Bangladeshi military and the guerrilla forces of Shanti Bahini, which formed under the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) over the oppression of the CHT people.  To this day, grievances still exist over the neglect and improper implementation of the Accord among the tribes.

Despite the existence of these treaties and accords in regard to policy-making for the CHT region, the provision of welfare, social justice and protection remains an unfair and ill-implemented system, and not only because these measures remain blindly top-down in their inception. The idea of ‘the other’ is a deeply embedded sentiment among Bangladeshis, and the brunt of such discrimination is openly borne by all minorities that reside in the nation. The only means, however flimsy, for safeguarding the rights of the CHT people is to have more representatives within the mainstream political parties of Bangladesh. For decades, the CHT people have been represented by officials chosen by the incumbent government. However, a look at the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs website shows how the history of the region has been misrepresented to fit the narrative of a democratic Bangladesh. This appearance of peace stands even as reports continue to flow in about the authorities refusing to take action against multiple cases of rape of tribal women and girls or the abduction and torture of tribal leaders.

All this is not to say that services for the CHT tribes do not exist. Some development measures have reached the region through the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Amnesty International and local NGOs. The UNDP Bangladesh website reports that with the help of the Bangladeshi government and international partnerships, the safety and welfare of the CHT people have improved significantly. In 2011, the government formally recognised tribal and ethnic communities, thus setting the stage for policies to protect their rights and freedoms. Given that the CHT Accord was signed in 1997, this recognition fourteen years later is indicative of how deeply the nationalist sentiment is ingrained within the policy-making of human rights protection. However, the website goes on to state that the CHT Accord will be fully implemented by 2020 as part of the nation’s seventh ‘Five Year Plan’. Major development projects that have been implemented through the Bangladeshi government and its partnerships include better infrastructure, better training of local police, an increased number of schools teaching in local languages and improved healthcare services, among others.

All this progress means nothing, however, if the voices on the ground are not heard. Without legal representation, the indigenous communities face deprivation in terms of basic citizenship rights. Without citizenship rights, the political parties feel no obligation to cater to their needs in order to secure their votes. As long as their representatives are chosen by the administration in power, their needs and struggles will not become common knowledge within mainstream channels and they will continue to retain their identity as ‘the other’ rather than as part of a culturally diverse, secular Bangladesh.

It is easy for the rights of minorities to be pushed onto the back burner, given the fundamental flaws in the judicial, political, economic and social systems in Bangladesh that plague its majority millions. Nonetheless, it is important to continue to draw attention to the plight of the indigenous tribes, so that any sustainable solutions that Bangladesh strives towards in the future will include these under-represented communities as well, and not just the majority.

Author- Tanzia Amina Hoque