The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Map of Bangladesh

Source: www.pnm.my/mtcp/images/ maps/Bangladesh-map.jpg

See also the UN Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations map here.

Map of Chittagong Division

Source: Deshimaps.com

See also: Banglapedia Chittagong Region River System map

Chittagong Hill Tracts

• Where is this place? Chittagong Division forms the East-Southeastern flank of Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hill Tracts run through the three eastern districts of this division, Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban. These districts form Bangladesh's frontier with India and Myanmar.

• What is it like? Hilly, densely forested. There are many small rivers running through, waterfalls and lakes, and it is the site of a major hydro-electric project on the Karnaphuli river..

• Who lives there? Culturally distinctive indigenous communities like the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Mro, Lushai, Khumi, Chak, Khyang, Bawm and Pankhua, who often have kin-communities on the other side of the international border. They are Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or animist for the most part. Since 1971, state-run projects as well as the crush of population in other parts of Bangladesh have brought Bengalis to settle in this area.

• What do they do? Given the difficulties of settled agriculture here, the indigenous communities practised jhum or 'slash and burn' or shifting cultivation--that is where they would clear a piece of forest, cultivate it for a while, then move elsewhere, leaving it fallow to self-regenerate. Now, oil and gas reserves have been located in this area. Thus, the main occupations here are sustenance agriculture and extractive industries.

• What else we should know:
  • Nomadic, shifting cultivator communities who traditionally moved back and forth between what are now three countries--India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
  • Distinctive from Bangladeshi mainstream in every way possible--culture, lifestyle, economy, history.
  • Terrain hard to police, plus presence and activity of armed insurgent groups in adjacent parts of India and Myanmar.

Useful beginners' links:

• Banglapedia (a project of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh), Chittagong Hill Tracts.
• Parbatya Bouddha Mission, Chittagong Hill Tracts.
• UNDP Bangladesh Factsheet on the Chittagong Hill Tracts
• Chittagong News, portal of news links and updates.

Chittagong port at dusk, source: aspiringnomad, travelblog.org, here

"Just a dream" Kaptai lake in Rangamati. Photo by Niloy. Source: Flickr.com

Resources

• Jumma Peoples Network Archive, A History of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, 1997.
• Uttorshuri Online, CHT Issues.

• Meghna Guhathakurta, Ethnic Conflict in a Post-Accord Situation: the Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
  Analysis, MeghBarta , October 21, 2005.
• Bushra Hasina Chowdhury, Issues of the Implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord, Occasional Paper, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, August 2002.

See also:

• Eshani Chakraborty, Understanding women’s mobilization in the Chittagong Hill Tracts struggle. The case of Mahila Samiti, Monash University, Australia, 2004.
• Eleanor P. Dictaan-Bang-oa, In Search of Peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, in Beyond the
  Silencing of the Guns, edited by Chandra K. Roy, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Amanda Romero-Medina, Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education), Baguio City, 2004. The link leads to the whole book; this is the first chapter.
• Jenneke Arens and Kirti Nishan Chakma, Bangladesh: Indigenous Struggle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, European Centre for Conflict Prevention, 2002.
• Eva Gerharz, The Construction of Identities: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, Sociology of Development Centre, University of Bielefeld, Germany, 1999.

  For Indian observers, the CHT is becoming important as it seems to be a new transit point for trade in arms and narcotics. The terrain has also facilitated the movement of insurgents back and forth. A couple of illustrative stories:

• Supriya Singh, Bangladesh: A New Front for Al Qaeda? Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Article No. 1907, December 17, 2005.
• B.Raman, Escalation of Jihadi Terrorism in Bangladesh, International Terrorism Monitor Paper No. 4, South Asia Analysis Group Paper No. 1643, December 10, 2005.
• Sushanta Talukdar, Cross-border challenges, Frontline, Volume 21 - Issue 14, Jul. 03 - 16, 2004.

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