Jumma nation and persecution in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study focuses on the religious and political persecutions inflicted upon the religious and ethnic minority groups living in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Preceding studies by scholars, researchers, writers, and columnists have widely ignored the religious and political persecution against the Jumma people in CHT. Many studies depict the sequential and chronological events of the injustice being exercised upon the ethnic indigenous people, but there are not studies highlighting the religious causes of such violence and how it is connected to the politics in the region. Hence, I undertake this initial study to conduct a baseline investigation through the qualitative research method. The study seeks to explore how and why religion and politics are linked to the violence and conflicts, how and why the Bangladesh security forces, law & order agencies, and other state machinery are involved in such violations of rights, and the role of the civic polity that comes to state power in an alternate manner. I am especially eager to examine serious violations of human rights which have occurred repeatedly over the years, such as rape, forced marriage, gang rape, murder, and more generally, the conversion of ethnic women and girls, and communal violence on a broad scale. The study consists in-depth online interview and the research sample of this study covers 26 adults aged between 20 to 60 years from the ethnic communities in CHT. The findings so obtained, clearly reveal that in Bangladesh religion and politics are used by the state to ensure their control of the region. The findings also unveil the mechanism of control and abuse used by the Muslim Bengali settlers, the Islamic fundamentalist quarters, and local ruling party leadership. Another aspect of the state-legitimated violence is the utilization of armed stooges of indigenous origin to achieve the state’s religio-political objectives.