Ethnic Groups Are Fleeing Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts in Search of Safety in Myanmar |
The Pulse | Society | South Asia | Southeast Asia
Ethnic Groups Are Fleeing Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts in Search of Safety in Myanmar
They have been terrorized by the Bangladesh army, Muslim settlers from the plains, and armed ethnic outfits for decades.
Members of the Bawm community from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, who have settled in Myanmar’s Chin State.
Concurrent with the forced emigration of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh has been the silent relocation of thousands of people belonging to non-Muslim ethnic communities in the reverse direction, from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in southeastern Bangladesh to Myanmar’s Chin and Rakhine states.
People have been fleeing violence in the CHT for decades.
The population in the CHT comprises around 850,000, who belong to 11 ethnic communities, professing Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.
According to members of four families from the CHT who have relocated to different areas of Myanmar’s Rakhine State and Chin State, the immigration began decades ago, triggered by various factors and during the regimes of different governments in Bangladesh.
“At Least We Will Be Safe in Myanmar”
Htwe Sein Maung was a farmer with five acres of land in Bandarban district in Bangladesh’s CHT. He resided in Lamar village, which is mostly inhabited by the Marma Buddhist community. It was sometime in early 2014 that he decided to emigrate to Myanmar with his wife and daughter and 15 other households from the same village.
The momentous decision by Htwe Sein Maung and the other families came after Muslim groups hailing from other parts of Bangladesh, who had settled near his village, threatened them and encroached upon their land. A sequence of events over six months convinced them that they had no option but to flee.
“The encroachment apart, our paddy fields were burned and many households were barred from cultivating their land. Then, restrictions were imposed on our movement. We couldn’t go to the market for fear of atrocities,” claimed Htwe Sein Maung, adding that the police were reluctant to register cases and launch an investigation despite repeated reminders and applications at Sonai Chari police station.
Subsequently, all 16 households held a meeting to firm up the plan to embark on the journey to Myanmar. Within a month, they sold off whatever possessions they had, including cattle at throw-away prices to the neighboring Muslim villages. A date was fixed for the journey to the border, which is 18 miles from their village. Then they set out with whatever belongings they could carry. The trek to the border took about seven hours before they set foot in Maungdaw in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The Myanmar military allowed the families to settle down on small plots of land in Maungdaw district, but in areas that were far off from the Rohingya Muslim villages.
All the families are currently engaged in the cultivation of vegetables and paddy, while some members also earn their livelihood as daily wagers.
“We have a hand-to-mouth existence and our economic conditions deteriorated after the war broke out in Arakan three years ago. But at least we are safe in Myanmar. The only danger is from airstrikes by the military, which can happen anytime,” said Maung Kyaw Sin, a member of a household that had crossed over to Myanmar in 2014.
“We Did Not Want Our Children to Be Abducted or Killed”
Tan Nu Sein and her family of five also belong to the Marma community. They emigrated from Rangamati district in Bangladesh’s CHT to Maungdaw in 2013.
Tan Nu Sein (right) and other members of the Marma community from Bangladesh’s CHT who have settled in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Credit – Rajeev Bhattacharyya
Between 2011 and 2013, at least six girls from the Marma community, who lived in Motipara village at Rangamati in the CHT, disappeared in a span of six months while returning home from school. Tan Nu Sein’s 16-year-old niece was among the missing. It was reported later that she was forcefully married to a Muslim man.
Eventually, residents of the village received threats from neighboring Muslim villages who were allegedly supported by local politicians of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). There was no grabbing of land but some residents were physically assaulted in different incidents. An elderly person was mugged while returning home from the hospital.
“Our movements were severely restricted. We did not want our children to be abducted or killed,” recalled Tan Nu Sein. She explained how residents from her village relocated in different batches to Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
The first batch of residents from Motipara, comprising 14 people, including women and........