Buddhist communities come under threat in Bangladesh

By Carleton Cole, The Nation, April 19, 2011; Published on the Buddhist Channel, May 15, 2011

Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh -- While most of the South Asian nation's population is Muslim, 85 per cent of people in the rugged Chittagong Hill Tracts are Theravada Buddhist.

<< On the map, Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region looks like an appendix oddly dangling southeastward from the rest of Bangladesh - and indeed it is a world apart.

At a recent press conference called "Muslim-Buddhist Conflict in Bangladesh: A Call for Peace" held by the Bangladesh Jumma Buddhist Forum at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT), speakers from the organisation explained about the uneasiness in which the region is gripped, and the recent breakdown in the on-and-off peace process.

At the event, the Venerable Phra Dipayan Chakma, president of the Bangladesh Jumma Buddhist Forum Thailand, said that "On February 11, Bengali Muslims tried to forcibly grab a Buddhist cremation place with the help of the Bangladeshi military at Naniaychar sub-district."

The senior monk added: "On February 17 Bengali Muslims and the Bangladeshi Border Guard jointly attacked a Jumma Buddhist village at Longudu sub-district of the Rangsmsi Hill Tracts. They burnt down 30 Jumma houses and seriously wounded two Buddhists."

These are only the latest in a litany of tragic events that have marred the Chittagong Hill Tracts since 1980, including a long string of murders of Buddhists.

Phra Dipayan accused the Bangladeshi government of attempting to shift the demographic balance by transplanting more than 400,000 Bengali Muslims into the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He said that the scheme is illegal under international law and constitutes a war crime under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"The Bengali Muslim settlers and Bangladesh military have jointly committed more than one dozen massacres and killed thousands of innocent Jumma Buddhists with total impunity. In addition they have committed arson, land grabbing, rape and looting."

Also in attendance at the conference was HM Raja Tridiv Roy, the former Chakma king. The Chakmas are a Tibeto-Burman people that stand out from the Indo-Aryan Bangladeshis. Roy, whose son is king of the Chakmas, said the government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is to be commended for attempting to implement the UN-backed Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Treaty of 1997, "However the situation has not improved. There has been a clear pattern of violence against indigenous people by the security forces. Most of the abuses have not been investigated."

In past decades, the Buddhist Chakmas have rebelled against the central government. The two sides signed the 1997 peace treaty, which guaranteed the indigenous Buddhists the rights that had been promised to them long ago.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts is one of only a few remaining Buddhist regions in South Asia, alongside Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Ladakh.

"We want to amend the constitution to reflect the special status that the Chittagong Hill Tracts has enjoyed since the British period," said the former king to a room of a half dozen journalists who were outnumbered by about two to one by Thai Buddhist monks.

Usually packed with journalists at evening press conferences, this morning press conference at the FCCT was sparsely attended, which, never mind the event's early start, reflects the lack of international interest in and knowledge of the issue.

"Buddhists are a minority in Bangladesh. Buddhists in Thailand must help out. It is the duty of a government to protect its people, no matter their religion. Some Muslim countries do not respect other religions. But we live together and die together," said Roy.

Promotional information for the talk stated that "Violence between indigenous Buddhists and Bengali Muslims has plagued the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh for the past 40 years. This situation has drawn comparisons to the southern insurgency in Thailand, where a Muslim minority live in a Buddhist majority."

The former monarch said that "Thailand's Muslims try to defend themselves but Buddhists in Bangladesh do not know how to defend themselves."

With its 46 clans, the Chakma minority is the biggest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, making up more than half the tribal population. In addition to dominating in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chakma communities spill over into neighbouring India. Bangladeshi and Indian Chakmas have the same culture, language and religion.

Phra Dipayan said, "The British recognised the Chakma king and gave him special status in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. By the Act of 1900, the Chittagong Hill Tracts was to be administered independently as a "Special Area.

"According to the 1900 regulation, people who lived outside of the Chittagong Hill Tracts could only enter it for a period of up to 24 hours. The law offered great protection for the Jumma Buddhist people."

Echoing that half a century later was Pakistan's first leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who promised to respect the Chittagong Hill Tracts Special Area status.

At the time of India's independence in 1947, the Chittagong Hill Tracts was 97 per cent Buddhist and two per cent Muslim, which led Phra Dipayan to proclaim that the annexation of the small Buddhist area into East Pakistan, which Bangladesh was then known as, was a "great mistake".

Wikipedia quotes Philip Ziegler, the official biographer Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy to India, as saying "the case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts was uppermost in Mountbatten's mind" at the time of India's independence in 1947, and that he worried about how India would react to the Chittagong Hill Tracts being awarded to East Pakistan.

"India's indignation at the award of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to Pakistan may have been a factor in making up Mountbatten's mind to keep the reports to himself till after independence," writes Ziegler.

No matter what form of government may prevail on the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the speakers agreed that pursuing needed change through peace and diplomacy should be a top priority for all sides.

-------------
Carleton Cole is a freelance journalist based in Bangkok.

We Need Your Help to Train the
Buddhist AI Chat Bot
NORBU!
(Neural Operator for Responsible Buddhist Understanding)



For Malaysians and Singaporeans, please make your donation to the following account:

Account Name: Bodhi Vision
Account No:. 2122 00000 44661
Bank: RHB

The SWIFT/BIC code for RHB Bank Berhad is: RHBBMYKLXXX
Address: 11-15, Jalan SS 24/11, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Phone: 603-9206 8118

Note: Please indicate your name in the payment slip. Thank you.


Dear Friends in the Dharma,

We seek your generous support to help us train NORBU, the word's first Buddhist AI Chat Bot.

Here are some ways you can contribute to this noble cause:

One-time Donation or Loan: A single contribution, regardless of its size, will go a long way in helping us reach our goal and make the Buddhist LLM a beacon of wisdom for all.

How will your donation / loan be used? Download the NORBU White Paper for details.



For Malaysians and Singaporeans, please make your donation to the following account:

Account Name: Bodhi Vision
Account No:. 2122 00000 44661
Bank: RHB

The SWIFT/BIC code for RHB Bank Berhad is: RHBBMYKLXXX
Address: 11-15, Jalan SS 24/11, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Phone: 603-9206 8118

Note: Please indicate your purpose of payment (loan or donation) in the payment slip. Thank you.

Once payment is banked in, please send the payment slip via email to: editor@buddhistchannel.tv. Your donation/loan will be published and publicly acknowledged on the Buddhist Channel.

Spread the Word: Share this initiative with your friends, family and fellow Dharma enthusiasts. Join "Friends of Norbu" at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/norbuchatbot. Together, we can build a stronger community and create a positive impact on a global scale.

Volunteer: If you possess expertise in AI, natural language processing, Dharma knowledge in terms of Buddhist sutras in various languages or related fields, and wish to lend your skills, please contact us. Your knowledge and passion could be invaluable to our project's success.

Your support is part of a collective effort to preserve and disseminate the profound teachings of Buddhism. By contributing to the NORBU, you become a "virtual Bodhisattva" to make Buddhist wisdom more accessible to seekers worldwide.

Thank you for helping to make NORBU a wise and compassionate Buddhist Chatbot!

May you be blessed with inner peace and wisdom,

With deepest gratitude,

Kooi F. Lim
On behalf of The Buddhist Channel Team


Note: To date, we have received the following contributions for NORBU:
US$ 75 from Gary Gach (Loan)
US$ 50 from Chong Sim Keong
MYR 300 from Wilson Tee
MYR 500 from Lim Yan Pok
MYR 50 from Oon Yeoh
MYR 200 from Ooi Poh Tin
MYR 300 from Lai Swee Pin
MYR 100 from Ong Hooi Sian
MYR 1,000 from Fam Sin Nin
MYR 500 from Oh teik Bin
MYR 300 from Yeoh Ai Guat
MYR 300 from Yong Lily
MYR 50 from Bandar Utama Buddhist Society
MYR 1,000 from Chiam Swee Ann
MYR 1,000 from Lye Veei Chiew
MYR 1,000 from Por Yong Tong
MYR 80 from Lee Wai Yee
MYR 500 from Pek Chee Hen
MYR 300 from Hor Tuck Loon
MYR 1,000 from Wise Payments Malaysia Sdn Bhd
MYR 200 from Teo Yen Hua
MYR 500 from Ng Wee Keat
MYR 10,000 from Chang Quai Hung, Jackie (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from K. C. Lim & Agnes (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from Juin & Jooky Tan (Loan)
MYR 100 from Poh Boon Fong (on behalf of SXI Buddhist Students Society)
MYR 10,000 from Fam Shan-Shan (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from John Fam (Loan)
MYR 500 from Phang Cheng Kar
MYR 100 from Lee Suat Yee
MYR 500 from Teo Chwee Hoon (on behalf of Lai Siow Kee)
MYR 200 from Mak Yuen Chau

We express our deep gratitude for the support and generosity.

If you have any enquiries, please write to: editor@buddhistchannel.tv


TOP