Denmark expresses concern over violence in Bangladesh

In recent days, a news has overcome the constant censorship about the crawling genocide which has been underway for decades in the ethnic-linguistic area of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, whose populations are subjected to ethnic cleansing and replacement by muslim bengalis.

The Danish Government, one of the rare foreign countries to have access to the Rangamati district, otherwise forbidden to all Westerners, expressed concern about the violent incidents in the district. Mikael Hemniti Winther, Danish Ambassador, said he deplored the slaughters, the damage to the people’s property and the livelihood confiscations. In the declaration, Denmark invited all parties to stop any further violence and resume the path of reconciliation.

Winther, in his statement, also said: “In the last two decades we have participated in various projects in the CHT, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Government and UNDP (United Nations Development Program), to improve the living conditions and self-determination of indigenous peoples of South- East of the country. We are ready to continue working with both sides in order to promote sustainable development and inclusive governance, which can handle the region’s particular diversity compared to the rest of Bangladesh.”

From June 2, 2017, an escalation of attacks against the indigenous “Jumma” populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is underway. The term “Jumma” (“those who cultivate on the hills”, against the Bengali cultivating lowlands) refers to the collectivity of the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh CHT region, this denomination includes the following ethnic groups of ancient Sino-Tibetan Mongolian origins: Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Chak, Pankho, Mru, Bawm, Lushai, Khyang, Gurkha, Assamese, Santal and Khumi.

Disorder and repression broke out on June 1 in the Khagrachari settlement, following the murder of a young politician, Jubo League leader Nurul Islam Nayon. The Jubo League is the youth wing of Awami League, the nominally center-left party in power in the country. Very often, militants of the youth party, have committed acts of extreme violence, attempted robberies and murders, rapes, inter-ethnic and religious attacks.

The jumma political group “Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti”, the People’s Union Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, represents the indigenous tribes of CHT in Bangladesh. Since 1973, the PCJSS has been struggling for the autonomy and recognition of the rights of the indigenous tribes of the Hill Tracts. The Shanti Bahini, the military wing of the PCJSS, for years have been fighting against government forces and Bengali settlers. After the 1997 peace accord and the resulting disarmament of Shanti Bahini, the PCJSS has become one of Bangladesh’s political components.

The PCJSS, following the recent violence, denounced the destruction of as much as 300 indigenous houses in Longudu and a series of episodes of violence in the same area against the population by a handful of young men, likely close to the Jubo League.

Amnesty International, in a report on 5 June, expressed serious concerns, stating that the Bangladesh Army did nothing to stop violent incendiaries and did not protect the indigenous population. Because of an unjustified religious persecution, many Indigenous Buddhists, Hindus, and the Christian minority, present in South Asia since 1400, have been forced to emigrate to neighboring India.

It should be stressed that in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, while there is a Muslim majority, initially religions have coexisted without problems and there are Hindu, Buddhist and Christian high rank’s representatives of Government. It can be stated that, since secession from Pakistan in 1971, the country has maintained a “secular” approach (within the limits of the Asian concept of the term).

Now, following the course of the dream revival of the Islamic Caliphate, the country has slowly radicalized. In 2016, for example, Bangladesh saw an escalation of violence, from serious incidents such as the nine Italians tortured for hours because they did not know the Quran, allegations of blasphemy against Islam aimed to Hindus, issues that since the birth of this young country had never happened.

 

Thanks to ORIZZONTI GEOPOLITICI Blog di Luciano Bonazzi and Friends – Resistenza 3.0 for the article.