Commentary
After Wadud Bhuiyan’s victory in the Khagrachari
constituency in the national parliamentary election, the settlers have become
jubilant, encouraged, and more aggressive than before. Within 36 hours of the
announcement of the election results, they carried out terrorist attacks in two
separate incidents against two hill people—Sui Ba Aung Marma and Himel Chakma.
After subjecting Sui Ba Aung Marma (47) to inhuman
torture, the settlers abducted him from a place called Lalchari in Ramgarh.
They later beat him further and handed him over to the BGB. He is currently
hospitalized in critical condition with severe injuries. His physical condition
is said to be alarming.
By falsely labeling him a “terrorist” and
“extortionist” of the UPDF, attempts are being made to legitimize the mob
violence carried out by the settlers. Whatever “terrorism” or crime Sui Ba Aung
may have been involved in, there is law for that. He should be punished in
accordance with the law. But instead of that, a group of settlers carried out
mob violence against him while members of the security forces stood by as if
watching a scene from a movie—this cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
Although the government speaks strongly against mob violence, it has taken no
action against settler mobs, which is regrettable. If Sui Ba Aung Marma is
guilty of “terrorism,” then the settlers involved in the attack are guilty of
the same crime.
 |
Himel Chakma was also injured in a settler assault. |
On the same day Sui Ba Aung was attacked, another incident occurred. Himel Chakma, who was ill, was returning home after buying medicine from Ramgarh market. When he reached the Pumpwell garden at the boundary of Lalchari village, settler terrorists pounced on him. They beat him brutally, causing him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground. Believing him to be dead, the settlers left the scene. After regaining consciousness, Himel returned home. However, the attackers took the cash he had with him as well as some documents belonging to the vihara and himself.
Himel Chakma (55) is the president of the management
committee of Dharmakirti Aranyo Bouddha Vihara in Nangel Para of Ramgarh
upazila. He is not known to have any personal enmity with the settlers or
anyone else.
The purpose of these two attacks is clear—to evict the
hill people from Nangel Para and surrounding areas and seize their lands. The
settlers have been attempting this long before the election. A few days ago,
they illegally constructed a house on land belonging to hill people and later
demolished it themselves. They then tried to blame the hill people for
demolishing the house. In protest of the “demolition,” the settlers even
brought out a procession in Ramgarh against the hill people.
On the other hand, the role of the security forces has
also been biased in favor of the settlers and hostile toward the hill people.
They frequently patrol hill areas, harass villagers under the pretext of
unnecessary questioning, and create an atmosphere of fear in various ways. The
aim of all this is to disrupt and make unbearable the normal lives of the hill
people through fear and harassment, forcing them to leave the area.
Even before the election, concerned circles had feared
that if one of the settlers’ principal leaders, Wadud Bhuiyan, won, incidents
of repression, abuse, and land grabbing against the Tripura, Marma, and other
hill peoples would increase in Ramgarh and various parts of Khagrachari. The
two incidents mentioned above prove that these fears were not unfounded.
During the rule of Ziaur Rahman in the 1980s, poor
landless settlers were brought into the Chittagong Hill Tracts with promises of
land. Yet due to land shortages, some 40,000 hill people had already been
forced to leave for India in the 1960s following the construction of the Kaptai
Dam. Thus, the only way to arrange land for the newly arrived settlers was to
seize land from the hill people and give it to them. The government at the time
did exactly that. To take away the land of the hill people, the government
unleashed the army and settlers. Attacks were carried out on hill villages,
driving people out and grabbing their lands, homesteads, and other properties.
In this way, lands in Feni, Ramgarh, Matiranga, Manikchari, and other areas
passed into settler possession. These regions had once been entirely inhabited
by the Marma and Tripura peoples. In recent years, they have become areas
dominated by Bengali Muslim settlers. Having lost their lands, the Marma and
Tripura have become destitute.
Even after seizing such vast amounts of land, the
settlers’ hunger for land has not been satisfied. They constantly cast greedy
eyes on the lands of the hill people and pounce when the opportunity arises.
The last time Wadud Bhuiyan served as MP, and during the 2007–08 state of
emergency, such an opportunity arose for the settlers, and we witnessed a grand
festival of land grabbing. After the recent election and the victory of the BNP
and Wadud Bhuiyan, another opportunity for land grabbing has emerged for the
settlers, and it is difficult to believe they will not take advantage of it. At
least past experience compels us to be apprehensive.
Yet despite these past experiences, it is extremely
shameful and painful that a section of the hill people, in exchange for minor
benefits and sacrificing broader national interests, are shouting slogans for
the “Sheaf of Paddy.” The traditional strategy of the ruling class is to grant
trivial benefits to a very small section of the oppressed peoples while
exploiting and repressing the majority. We see this happening in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts as well. The military-settler rulers have created a collaborator-opportunist
group among the hill people and are using them to sow division and discord. The
chief of this collaborator-opportunist group is Santu Larma, Chairman of the
Regional Council and President of the JSS. By keeping him seated in the chair
of the Regional Council, the military rulers have established settler dominance
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and obstructed the movement in a way that could
not have been achieved through any other collaborator in the past.
In any case, as a nation we must not become forgetful.
We must know and remember our past. We must always remember our memories of
independence and the pain of losing our lands, and strive and struggle
continuously to regain those lost lands and rights. Even if a person loses a
pen worth three taka, he searches tirelessly to recover it. How then can a
nation not strive and struggle to regain its lost land and lost independence?
Many nations in the world have struggled for hundreds of years to regain lost
independence, and many are still struggling. We must learn from their
struggles. We must always keep alive the dream of regaining our lost land and
rights and continue the struggle.
Those who, without understanding and out of
self-interest, have joined the BNP are on the wrong path. Because of them, once
again the key to the National Parliament has fallen into the wrong hands. As a
result, the hill people must now live with multiplied fears of losing land and
becoming victims of repression. By acting as collaborators and flattering the
rulers, a few individuals may obtain crumbs of power and minor benefits, but
that does not secure the rights of the people or protect national interests.
What is required for that is struggle. No nation in the world has gained its
rights without struggle. There is not a single example of a nation achieving
liberation through collaboration (Dalali).
For the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, too,
there is no alternative but struggle. Therefore, if the fears of land grabbing
and repression that have emerged after Wadud Bhuiyan’s victory turn into
reality, we must be prepared in advance to build resistance against them.
(February 16, 2026)
-----