Seven Jumma villagers were abducted in Bangladesh on August 3, 2002, by members of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF). The attackers, who are also Jumma, entered the village of Twichakma and opened fire on the villagers, prompting them to flee into the jungle. They then set fire to 15 houses, leaving more than 100 villagers homeless, and took seven villagers with them, two of whom were later released and treated for serious injuries. CHT Humanity Concern, based in Canada, published an appeal to the international community on August 19, placing the blame for these latest atrocities on the government of Bangladesh.
The Jumma peoples of Bangladesh comprise several tribes, most of which are Buddhist, while roughly 95 percent of Bangladeshis are Muslim. Their traditional land lies in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the southeastern corner of Bangladesh, near the borders with India and Burma. The Jumma have been the victims of numerous atrocities committed by the Bangladesh armed forces since the nation attained independence in 1971, including rape, killings and abductions. In the 1960s thousands of Jumma were displaced by the Kaptai hydroelectric dam, which flooded 40 percent of arable land in the CHT. In the 1970s Bengali Muslims, encouraged by the government’s policy of Islamization, began illegally settling traditional Jumma lands.
Conflicts between the Jumma and the Bengali settlers and the Bangladeshi government led up to the 1997 Peace Accords, signed by Jan Samhati Samiti (JSS) on behalf of the Jumma, and by the National Committee on behalf of the government of Bangladesh. The Accords promised the withdrawal of illegal settlers, dismantling of temporary military camps, and the rehabilitation of Jumma refugees and internally displaced persons, but the government has been slow to implement these reforms.
The UPDF objected to the Accords - which were never constitutionally guaranteed - from their inception. Human rights organizations such as the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) allege that the UPDF, comprised of Jumma rebels demanding ‘full autonomy’, was in fact formed by the Bangladeshi government in order to prevent the implementation of the Accords. They point out that UPDF attacks are limited to JSS members and supporters. It is alleged that the Bangladeshi government still supports the organization.
In recent years, extortion by the UPDF has become commonplace, and police report 96 abductions in the region over the past year alone. Armed soldiers demand steep tolls from villages. According to villagers, Twichakma, the Tripura village that fell victim to the most recent attack, was targeted for its refusal to pay UPDF tolls. In addition to the abductions and destruction of homes, valuables were stolen and several villagers, including children, were beaten.
