MUSLIM AGGRESSION AGAINST INDIGENOUS

BUDDHIST COMMUNITY IN BANGLADESH

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

GLORIOUS BUDDHIST HISTORY

Buddhists of Bangladesh are among descendents of the earliest Buddhists of

the Indian sub continent. They inherit an illustrious Buddhist culture and
civilization of ancient India. Buddhism thrived in this region from the early 3 rd
century BCE or over two thousand three hundred years ago, from the time of
Emperor Asoka (304-232 BCE) until the 12th century CE, making the Bengal
region the last stronghold of Buddhism in the Indian sub continent. In the 5 th
century CE, or more than 1500 years ago, Fa Hsien the famous Chinese
pilgrim visited this region (Tamralipti-West Bengal), and reported the
existence of many well-established Buddhist monasteries. In the 7th century
CE, Huen-Tsang visited different parts of Bengal and reported of many
hundreds of monasteries with several thousands of Buddhist monks. Some
of these monasteries were great seats of learning and are considered among
the most ancient universities of the world.

THE PALA BUDDHIST DYNASTY

Ancient Bengal had a glorious Buddhist civilization during the Pala Empire
as far back as in the 8th century CE. This was the first independent Buddhist
dynasty of Bengal. Between 750 and 1150 CE Buddhism reached the
pinnacle in the history of Bengal under the guidance of Pala Kings who were
devout Buddhists. This Buddhist Empire ushered in a period of stability and
prosperity in Bengal. Many temples, monasteries and places of learning
equal to universities were built during this time. The Pala Empire can be
considered as the golden era of Bengal. Never had the Bengali people
reached such height of power and glory. Palas were responsible for the
introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, Bhutan and Myanmar. It was during the
Pala period Bengal became the main centre of Buddhist as well as secular
learning. Universities such as Vikramshila, Jagadala, Somapura Mahavihara,
Shalban, Paharpur, Vickrampuri Mahavihara, and Pandit Vihara prospered
under the patronage of the Pala kings.

In 1125 CE, the Sena dynasty who were Hindus invaded and ousted the Pala
dynasty. The Sena rulers brought a revival of Hinduism but neglected and in
fact, harassed Buddhism. Buddhist shrines and places of learning including
the universities were neglected. Some Sena rulers forced Buddhists to
convert to caste-based Hinduism. Buddhism suffered and was subject to
serious decline in Bengal with the ascendency of the Sena dynasty.
Buddhists were harassed and killed by the armies of the Sena rulers. This
led the surviving Buddhists to retreat to the Chittagong area.

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MUSLIM INVASION AND ATROCITIES

The Muslim invasion of India, including Bengal, came in the early 13th
century. Under the leadership of Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar
Khilji, Muslim invaders defeated the Sena king Lakshman Sena and
established their rule in the entire region. During the early Muslim period, the
former Sena kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bengal. Muslim rule
led to widespread harassment of and violence against Hindus and Buddhists
and extensive destruction of Buddhist shrines, monasteries and places of
learning. Many Buddhist monks were killed and violent means were used to
forcibly convert many Buddhists and Hindus to Islam. Most Buddhists who
survived this onslaught moved to the Chittagong Hill Tract areas in order to
escape harassment and violence. This resulted in the general concentration
of Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas.

BRITISH RULE AND DIVISION OF BENGAL

The British East India Company was encroaching Bengal in the 17 th century
and towards the latter half of the 18th century they were in control of most of
the Bengal region. On September 1760, the British East-India Company
established their rule in Bangladesh. The population of Buddhists which has
reduced substantially by the time of the British was largely concentrated in
the Chittagong Hill Tract areas. They were severely affected by the „Great
famine in Bengal‟ in the 1769-70 period which killed nearly 10 million people
among whom were many Buddhists. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule
by the Company with the direct control of Bengal by the British crown.

Known as one of the most active provinces in “freedom fighting”, in 1905

Bengal was divided by British rulers, seemingly for administrative purposes
into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and Orissa)
and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) which included the
predominantly Buddhist occupied Chittagong Hill Tract region.

Hindu Bengalese disagreed with the partition saying that it will divide Bengal
which is united by language and history. But the Muslims supported partition
stating that it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will
be majority and they can freely practice their religion and way of life. The
views and attitudes of the Buddhist community were not sought by the
British. But owing to strong Hindu agitation, in 1912, the British reunited East
and West Bengal.

In the 20th century, partitions of Bengal occurred twice. The first partition
occurred in 1905 and the second partition was in 1947. As partition of British
India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in 1947, Bengal again
split into the state of West Bengal of India and a Muslim region of East
Bengal under Pakistan, renamed East Pakistan in 1958. East Pakistan later
rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become in 1971, the independent
republic of Bangladesh.

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BUDDHISTS OF BANGLADESH

In 1959, a Buddhist religious association named “Parbatya Chattagram

Bhikkhu Samiti” or the Chittagong Hill Tracts Bhikkhu Association under the
leadership of Venerable Aggavansa Mahathero was formed which played a
significant role in unifying Buddhists and reinforcing Buddhism in Chittagong.

Buddhists flourished during the Pala kingdom as the predominant Bengalese

population with a highly advanced culture and civilization. Today, the
originally large Buddhist community of the Bengal region has dwindled
substantially and live among a Muslim majority in Bangladesh, confined to
the south-east part of Bangladesh, or the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) which
is known as Jumma or Hill. Until the British period, the Chittagong Hill Tracts
functioned as an independent region dominated by Buddhists. The Buddhists
of the Chittagong region are popularly known as Jumma people or Jumma
Buddhists. They form four small indigenous Buddhist communities -
Chakma, Marma, Tanchyangya and Chak. Anthropologically they are all of
Mongolian origin and a peace-loving farming community. The Chittagong Hill
Tracts covers areas comprising the Rangamati, Khagrachhari and
Bandarban districts of Bangladesh and is flanked by two international
borders, on the southeast by Myanmar and on the north by India. In recent
decades Catholic and Christian missions have been active in fishing in
troubled waters in widespread proselytization work among impoverished and
problem-stricken Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts area and many
Buddhists have been subject to unethical conversion.

AGGRESSION AGAINST BUDDHISTS

Between 1957 and 1963, the then Pakistan government overlooking the
opinions and objections of the Jumma Buddhists built a massive
hydroelectric dam in the Chittagong Hill Tract region. The dam flooded
54,000 acres of productive farm lands of Jumma Buddhists and resulted in
the loss of about 40% of land available for farming by Jumma Buddhist
farmers. About 100,000 Jumma Buddhists were adversely affected by this so
called development. About 40,000 of them had to be moved out of their
traditional land as a result of this hydro dam project. Some of these people
moved to India and are now living in Arunachal. The Jumma people allege
that successive Muslim rulers of the former East Pakistan and later
Bangladesh have discriminated against and undermined the Jumma
Buddhist community in the Chittagong Hill Tract and were instrumental in
imposing a tyrannical rule upon the Jumma people.

VIOLENT ENCROACHMENT OF LAND OF BUDDHISTS

Among the most horrendous acts was the settling of many thousands of
Muslims from outside in the traditional lands of Jumma Buddhist people
creating a highly volatile situation resulting in constant clashes among
people. According to Jumma Buddhists, successive governments of
Bangladesh were engaged in implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing to
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eradicate the indigenous Jumma Buddhists. The government has settled
more than 400,000 Muslim settlers in the ancestral lands of Buddhists in the
Chittagong Hill Tract region. This encroachment of land owned and occupied
previously by Buddhists is said to be continuing on a rapid scale even at
present. In addition, more than 100,000 military and paramilitary personnel
have been stationed in the Chittagong Hill Tract making life insecure and
miserable for the Jumma Buddhist community. The region today is crime
prone, characterized by arson, killing, rape, land grabbing, and destruction of
Buddhist temples, extra-judicial arrest and detentions. Between 1986 to1989
more than 70,000 Jumma Buddhists have fled Bangladesh and sought
refuge in the Tripura state of India.

ARMED STRUGGLE AND PEACE ACCORD

Violence centering on land issues has been going on in this region since
1978, when the government decided to settle Muslim people in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts which is land traditionally owned and occupied by
Buddhists. Many Buddhists were harassed and were forced to leave their
traditional land. Owing to continued harassment the Buddhists collectively
protested and launched an armed struggle during the early 1980s,
demanding full autonomy for the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Later the government
signed a Peace Accord with the Buddhists. Expecting a peaceful situation
following the Peace Accord, many Buddhists who had fled to refugee camps
in India during times of violence started returning home, only to find their land
encroached upon by Muslims.

During the early 1980s, Buddhists launched an armed struggle to safeguard

their rights, demanding full autonomy for the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This
continued for two decades and an Accord was signed between the Jumma
People‟s political party of the Buddhists and Bangladesh government in
December 1997, to withdraw the new settlers and the military from
Chittagong Hill Tract. Expecting a peaceful situation following the Peace
Accord, many indigenous people who had fled to refugee camps in India
during times of violence, started returning home, only to find their land
encroached upon by Muslims. The Buddhists allege that the Accord was not
respected by the government.

BUDDHIST RIGHTS VIOLATED BY MUSLIMS

The thousands of Jumma Buddhist families who were displaced have not
been rehabilitated and the number of poverty-stricken Jumma refugees have
increased substantially. Among them are thousands of children who are
deprived of their education. Human Rights violations continue to occur with
the military resorting to violence against Buddhists. On 20th April 1999, the
military and Muslim settlers attacked the Jumma Buddhists at Babuchara
bazaar killing and wounding many Jumma Buddhists.

In recent years Muslim extremism and violent tendencies appear to have

intensified. According to a Congressional Research Service Report of 2008,
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authorities in Bangladesh have expressed concern about the use of
madrasas or Islamic religious schools by a network of Islamic activists being
investigated in connection with a number of attempted and successful
bombing attacks across the country. A number of madrasa students were
detained in connection with the investigation (CRS Report January 2008).

In the early part of 2010, the Chittagong Hill Tracts region was rocked by
violence, flaring up decades old ethnic-religious tensions, as Muslim settlers
set fire to hundreds of homes of indigenous Buddhists resulting in many
deaths and many injuries. Thousands of Buddhists have been left homeless.
These attacks were meant to forcibly grab land and properties of Buddhists.
This violence was committed in the presence of law enforcers including
soldiers who were Muslims. According to Jumma people, Muslim military
personnel have been involved in gross human rights violations with impunity,
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts for many years. Many indigenous Buddhist
people of affected villages continue to live in hiding, in dense forests and
some have abandoned their ancestral land and had moved to other villages
and are leading desperate lives.

A Press Release on March 08, 2010, by the CHT-American Jumma People‟s

Association of The Indigenous Jumma People‟s Network, USA, strongly
condemns the continuous atrocities and arson to which the indigenous
Jumma people in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) have been subject to and the
illegal Bengali Muslim settlers backed by Bangladesh army personnel who
had burnt down houses and public buildings. Since 1980 there have been 14
major instances of massacre of thousands of Jumma people by the illegal
Bengali Muslim settlers and in co-operation with the law enforce agencies of
Bangladesh. More than 80,000 Jummas have fled across the border to
India. Villages have been burnt down completely (www.jpnuk.org.uk,
www.achrweb.org). The attacks on the indigenous Jumma people shows that
the government of Bangladesh has failed to change its policy of
indiscriminate killings of indigenous Jumma people in order to occupy their
lands and implant more illegal plain settlers instead of implementing the
Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997.

Dr. Daya HewapathiraneVancouver, Canada

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