In Bangladesh, an old flashpoint re-erupts: Tribals clash with ‘settlers’ and army

At least three indigenous people have been killed since Wednesday and dozens more injured in violent clashes between indigenous communities and “Bengali settlers” in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of southeastern Bangladesh.

The escalating violence prompted local authorities on Friday to impose Section 144 indefinitely, a legal provision that restricts gatherings.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts long been a flashpoint for ethnic tensions between the Pahari tribal communities and “Bengali settlers”.

The indigenous people seek greater representation in national politics and the protection of their rights, while Bengali “settlers”, who migrated to the region in the mid-20th century, have gradually become the dominant demographic group.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts comprise three districts – Khagrachhari, Rangamati, and Bandarban – with a population of 1,842,815, according to the national census of 2022. Of this population, 920,248 are tribal people, while the rest are widely regarded as “Bengali settlers”.

“From 1979 to 1983, then President General Ziaur Rahman had implanted about 500,000 illegal Muslim plain settlers to reduce the indigenous population of the CHTs into a minority on their own land,” claimed Suhas Chakma, director of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group rights group based in New Delhi. “The illegal plain settlers now constitute more than 50% of the total population in the CHTs.”

Wednesday’s erupted...

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