The
Chittagong Hill Tracts (
Bengali:
পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম , Parbotya Chôṭṭogram)
comprise an area of 13,295 km
2 in southeastern
Bangladesh
and border
India
and
Myanmar
(Burma). They formed a single
district of Bangladesh until 1984, when
they were divided into three districts:
Khagrachari,
Rangamati, and
Bandarban. Topographically, the Chittagong Hill
Tracts are the only very hilly area in Bangladesh. With
Ladakh,
Sikkim,
Bhutan, and
Sri Lanka,
they constitute one of the few remaining abodes of
Buddhism in
South Asia.
In 1900 British summary was talking population of the
Chittagong Hill Tracts 93% are Jumma( Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Chak,
Pakho, Mru, Murung, Bawm, kushai, Khyang, Gurkha, Assamese, Santal and Khumi) and
7% of Parbatya Bangali.
According to the census of 1991, the population was 974,447, of which
501,114 were tribal peoples and the rest were from other communities. The
tribal peoples, collectively known as the Jumma, include the
Chakma,
Marma,
Tripura,
Tanchangya,
Chak,
Pankho,
Mru,
Murung,
Bawm,
Lushai,
Khyang,
Gurkha,
Assamese,
Santal, and
Khumi and a large number of
Parbatya Bangali .
[1]
The population of the three districts (
zilas) totalled 1,587,000 in
the provisional returns of the census of 2011. About 50% of the population are
tribal peoples and mainly followers of
Theravada Buddhism; 49% of the inhabitants are
Parbatya Bangali Muslims
and
Hindus;
the remainder are
Christians, or
animists.
The early
history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Hilly Bengal), a record of
constantly recurring raids on the part of the eastern hill tribes and of the
operations undertaken to repress them, of which narrative will be found in the
article on the Lushai Hills. The earliest mention of these raids is
found in a letter from the chief of Chittagong to Warren
Hastings, the governor-general, dated April 1777, complaining of the
violence and aggressions of a mountaineer, the leader named Ramu Khan of a band
of Kukis or Lushais. These raids continued without any long intermission until
1891, when the Lushai Hills were annexed to British territory. The
recorded population increased from 69,607 in 1872 to 101,597 in 1881, to
107,286 in 1891, and to 124,762 in 1901. The Census of 1872 was, however, very
imperfect, and the actual growth of population has probably not exceeded what
might be expected in a sparsely inhabited but fairly healthy tract.[2]
When the
1901 census was taken there were no towns, and 211 of the villages had
populations of less than 500 apiece; only one exceeded 2,000. The population
density, excluding the area of uninhabited forest (1,385 square miles), was 33
persons per square mile. There was a little immigration from Chittagong, and a
few persons had emigrated to Tripura. The proportion of females to every 100 males was
only 90 in the district-born, and 83 in the total population. Buddhists
numbered 83,000, Hindus 36,000, and Muslims 5,000.[3]
The
Chittagong Hill Tracts (Hilly Bengal), combining three
hilly districts of Bangladesh, were once known as Korpos Mohol, the name used
until 1860. In 1860 it was annexed by the British and was made an
administrative district of Bengal. As of today, it is a semi-autonomous region within
Bangladesh comprising the districts Chengmi (Khagrachari District), Gongkabor (Rangamati District), and Arvumi (Bandarban District).
The last
viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, who considered the grant of
independence to India as his act of crowning glory, was ambitious to achieve
this "superhuman" task in record time. He said that before accepting
the post of viceroy he had told King
George VI, who was his cousin: "I am prepared to accept the job only
on one condition. India must be granted independence by July, 1948 and I will
not stay there a day longer". Mountbatten came to India in March, 1947 and
this left him just about sixteen months to complete such a gigantic task. In
reality, he achieved it in five months, on 15 August 1947 for which he was
given so much credit.
Originally,
the award of the Boundary Commission was to be made public on 13 August. But
Mountbatten was reluctant to make this public. According to Philip
Ziegler, the author of Mountbatten's official biography, the case of the
Chittagong Hill Tracts was uppermost in Mountbatten's mind. Mountbatten
"foresaw an Independence Day marred by rancour, Nehru boycotting the
ceremonies, India born in an atmosphere not of euphoria but of angry
resentment." So Mountbatten decided to announce the award only on 16
August when the celebrations were over. As Zeigler writes, "India's
indignation at the award of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to Pakistan may have
been a factor in making up Mountbatten's mind to keep the reports to himself
till after independence".
Mountbatten
was himself surprised by the ferocity of Sardar Patel's reaction to the issue.
In his memoirs he wrote: "The one man I had regarded as a real statesman
with both his feet firmly on the ground, and a man of honour whose word was his
bond, had turned out to be as hysterical as the rest. Candidly I was amazed
that such a terrific crisis should have blown up over so small a matter.
However, I have been long enough in India to realise that major crises are by
no means confined to big matters." Leonard Mosley in his book The Last
Days of the British Raj puts it "This is a matter for Mountbatten's
conscience.
During the
1970s and 80s, there were attempts by the government to resettle the area with
Bengali people. These attempts were resisted by the tribals, who, with the
latent support of neighbouring India, formed a guerilla force called Shanti
Bahini. As a result of the tribal resistance movement, successive
governments turned the Hill Tracts into a militarised zone. Professor Bernard Nietschmann wrote
a letter about Shanti Bahini and the Chittagong Hill Tracts people to the editor
of the New York Times published on October 25, 1986.[citation needed]
Following
years of unrest, an agreement was formed between the government of Bangladesh
and the tribal leaders which granted a limited level of autonomy to the elected
council of the three hill districts
The 1997 Peace Treaty signed between the then Sheikh
Hasina Government and the Jana Shanghati Shamiti or Shanti Bahini has
been opposed by the opposition parties as well as a fraction of the tribal
rebels.[citation needed] Opposition
parties argued that the autonomy granted in the treaty ignored the Bengali
settlers. The successive Khaleda Zia government promised to implement the peace
treaty, despite their opposition to it during the previous government's term.
According to the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, a peace treaty
between the gGovernment of Bangladesh and Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhati
Samiti was signed on 2 December 1997. However, Shanti Bahini rebels kept on
committing killings and harassing the Bengali people living in the area. There
are many accusations that they get financial help from a foreign country to
fight for their freedom.
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