Chakma or Jumma People and Partition: The Case of Perennial Victimhood

This is a case study on Chakmas, an indigenous population of undivided Bengal, later East Bengal, East Pakistan and presently Bangladesh. During British rule these indigenous people of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) were enjoying self-rule within colonial India. The issue of identity assertion was not active. During Indian freedom struggle they started negotiating with Congress party for their post-colonial status as Indians. By virtue of the original partition award that remained in force from June to August 1947, the CHT was to remain with India.But in the final award, CHT was given to Pakistan in exchange for Firozpur. In protest against the incorporation of the CHT in Pakistan, the extremist faction of ParbatyaChattagram Jana Samiti (CHT Peoples Association) asserted their identity as Indian citizen by hoisting Indian flag in their territory.Thus by 1947 the CHT people asserted their non-Muslim and pro-Indian Identity. But by that time, they became East Pakistanis and faced the wrath of Pakistan government for being pro-Indian.In 1960s Kaptai Dam was set up in their territory by central government of Pakistan. 54,000 acres of agricultural land in the Karnafuli river valley went under water. One lakh people became environmental refugees and crossed the Indian border.This further consolidated the non-Muslim identity of the Hill tribes. During 1960s the Bengali nationalist movement got momentum. In 1964, by amending the CHT Manual, Pakistan government repealed the excluded area status of the CHT. This was part of their communal scheme to create a division in East Bengal by instigating conflict between the non-Muslim, non-Bengali CHT people and the plain land majority Muslim Bengali community. As a result, very few CHT people could associate themselves with the liberation movement of East Pakistan.Some of the hill people were accused of collaborating with the Pakistani government during liberation war. Therefore, hill people were distrusted to some extent as pro-Pakistani by the Bengalis.Later on, monolithic nation-building process of independent Bangladesh took a heavy toll on these minority communities of the CHT. ManabendraLarma, the charismatic leader of CHT people founded the underground Rangamati Communist Party (RCP) on 16 May 1970.The RCP later transformed into the ParbatyaChattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) in 1972. By the mid-1980s, apart from military activities, the PCJSS attempted to integrate the different nationalities of the CHT under the newly contrived notion of “Jumma nationalism”.This newly proclaimed separate nationhood was meant to retaliate the state-led homogenization process. This initiated the ethnic conflict between CHT people and Bengalis. A peace negotiation was in process between the insurgents and the government of Bangladesh. And the fate of Chakma refugees and their repatriation was intertwined with the peace negotiation. The study will assess how Partition made CHT community perennial victims.It would explore how this refugee repatriation issue is dealt by India-Bangladesh. The issue of refugee repatriation became a major issue during peace negotiation between Bangladesh and the CHT insurgents. India became determining factor in this connection.