DOCUMENT: DEWAN.TXT U N I T E D N A T I O N S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Working Group on Indigenous Populations Geneva 27-31, 1992 A statement made by Mr. Ramendu Shekhar Dewan on behalf of the Jumma Nation (the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts). Madame Chairman, Honourable Members of the Working Group and Friends, Thank you very much for permitting me to present my statement. May I take this opportunity to introduce myself - I am a Jumma and I come from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, I hope my statement will assist the Working Group to Se familiar with the real problems of Indigenous Populations better and to frame adequate and effective standards for the protection of Indigenous Peoples as their circumstances suggest. Although the international community has helped restore democracy in Bangladesh, the human rights situation in the CHT has worsened under the present so-called 'democratic government' of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Security Forces in league with the Bangladeshi infiltrators have carried out 663 and 656 gross human rights violations during the periods from July to December, 1991 and from January to June, 1992, respectively. They have committed all sorts of crimes against humanity such as - robbery, arson, eviction, relocation to concentration camps, detention, beating, torture, rape, religious persecution, murder and mass-killing - in order to seize Jumma villages and farmlands for their co- religionists. One such Government-orchestrated violence took place on 10 April, 1992, at Logang cluster village (in fact a concentration camp) where some 1500 Jumma families were forcibly relocated by the Bangladesh Security Forces. Needless to say, the villages and agricultural lands of these Jumma farmers have already been distributed to the Bangladeshi infiltrators free of cost. With a view to getting rid of these Jumma prisoners, the military authorities hatched a plot to find an excuse. On that day, they sent two Bangladeshi infiltrators to rape the Jumma women who were grazing their cows at the Logang cluster village. The Jumma women defended themselves as far as possible and at the same time they cried for help. A Jumma gentleman came to their rescue and asked the miscreants to stop assaulting the women. In stead of listening to his advice, the assailants attacked him and hacked him to death. During the attack, one of the rapists was also injured, After killing the Jumma gentleman, the culprits went straight to the camp of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). The military found the excuse they were looking for and used the injured rapist as a victim of the Shanti Bahini's attack. On the pretext of searching out the Shanti Bahini, the Bangladesh Security Forces and the Bangladeshi infiltrators combinedly attacked the innocent Jummas of the Logang cluster village. They hacked many Jummas to death and shot dead those who tried to flee. Then the invaders forced the old people, women and children into their homes and burnt them alive by setting their homes on fire. According to the local authorities and eye-witnesses, some 800 houses were burnt down and about 1200 Jummas died in the massacre. Eye-witness accounts say - the Logang cluster village virtually "became a cremation ground". This massacre has also sent another wave of Jumma refugees to the Tripura State of India. The Government of Bangladesh is attempting its utmost to conceal the Logang massacre. It sealed off the Logang cluster village immediately after carrying out the massacre and secretly disposed of the dead bodies. Even it did not permit a group of 23 eminent Bengalis consisting of Members of Parliament, University Professors, Writers, Lawyers, Human Rights Activists and Journalists to visit the site of the massacre on 12 April, 1992. The Bangladesh Government misled the press and also the entire international community by announcing that only 11 people were killed in the incident. Even so, the Bangladesh High Commission in London has denied not only any killings but also the whole incident. On 25 April, 1992, the Bangladesh Home Minister, Mr. Abdul Matin Chowdhury visited the Logang village and simply blamed the Shanti Bahini for the massacre. Following his foot steps, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Rahman also paid a visit to the affected area on 13 Hay, 1992, and told the local people that "there would be further incidents like that of Logang in the future if the Shanti Bahini would kill any Muslims" clearly admitting that there was an official hand behind the massacre. Fortunately, the compassionate international community has intervened in the Logang massacre. As a result, the Bangladesh Government could not cover up the massacre totally on the one hand and it has been compelled to set up an inquiry into the massacre on the other. It has appointed Justice Sultan Hussain Khan to investigate the Logang massacre. Perhaps, it is important to note that Hr. Khan is an ardent supporter of the present ruling party of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Most possibly he will toe the Government line of suppressing evidence of the Logang massacre as far as possible. Consequently, his report is bound to be biased, untrue and incredible. Even before his report has been made public, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry is trying hard to play down the Logang massacre is dismissing the eye-witness accounts as "exaggerated'. In these circumstances, there is no chance to get an impartial report on the Logang massacre. Perhaps, it is worth- mentioning that the Bangladesh Government had formed inquiry committees to investigate the Kaukhali and Longadu massacres in 1980 and in 1989 respectively but it never made the inquiry reports public. It has been reported that the Government of Bangladesh is dragging its feet on the publication of Mr. Khan's report on the Logang massacre. Therefore, I appeal earnestly to you to send a Special Rapporteur to the CHT to investigate the massacres committed at Logang, Malya, Longadu, Dighinala, Panchari, Baghaichari, Matiranga, Kaukhali and so on at your earliest moment. I would like to thank you again for your patient hearing and support. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: -= THE FOURTH WORLD DOCUMENTATION PROJECT =- :: :: A service provided by :: :: The Center For World Indigenous Studies :: :: www.cwis.org :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Originating at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, Washington USA www.cwis.org © 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies (All Rights Reserved. References up to 500 words must be referenced to the Center for World Indigenous Studies and/or the Author Copyright Policy Material appearing in the Fourth World Documentation Project Archive is accepted on the basis that the material is the original, unoccupied work of the author or authors. 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