PCJSS

Introduction
In 1980's when the suppression, torturing and exploitation of the Bangladesh Government has raised up to the climax, a large number of Indigenous Jumma people fled to the nearby country India for shelter. On the one hand, the government was giving illegal settlement of Bengali Muslims in the land of the indigenous Jumma people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, on the other hand, side by side the government was systematically conducting genocides, atrocities like killings, burning houses and crops, raping women, dishonoring Buddhist temples and torturing the Jumma people to uproot them from their land. At that time, the Jumma people has no way to survive in CHT and almost more than 70,000 Indigenous Jumma people compelled to become refugee in India.
As result of combing military operation and attack upon the Jumma people due to clash held between the army and Shanti Bahini at Guimara area, 5 thousands of Jumma people, all were Marma, took shelter in Indian State of Tripura for life security in 1978. Again in 1981 during the Feni Valley operation, nearly 20 thousands Jumma people was forced to take refuge in Tripura. After the Bhushanchara massacre under Barkal upazila, around 40 (?) thousands Jumma people were forced to take refuge in Indian State of Mizoram in 1984. After a bilateral talk between India and Bangladesh, these Jumma refugees repatriated on a guarantee of life security, due compensation, return of their farmlands forcibly occupied by Bengali Muslim settlers. But no their repatriation back to their home they found that Bangladesh government did not honor the terms of the agreement.
After the genocide in 1986 throughout the almost all the upazilas of Khagrachari district, more than 70 thousands Jumma took shelter in India as refugee and hundred thousands in deep forest of remote areas within the country. After the Logang massacre in 1993 more than 20 thousands Jumma people also took shelter in Tripura State.

Sl.	Name of Indian State where Jumma people took shelter	Year	Approximate number of refugees	Remarks
	Tripura State	1978	5,000
	Mizoram State	1979	10,000
	Tripura State	1981	20,000
	Mizoram State	1984	4,500
	Tripura State	1986	70,000
	Tripura State	1992	3,000

Repatriation of the Jumma Refugees
Government of Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the leaders of the Jumma Refugees at Agartala (in India) on 9th March 1997 and vows to give back their lands with some other benefits. In the CHT Accord 1997, again government re-assured to the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti about it and according to the CHT Accord 1997 Section (D) Article (1) a Task Force will be made for the proper rehabilitation of the Refugees and Jumma Internally Displace Persons of CHT. Even eight years latter, the scenario of the rehabilitation process is still pending. Many numbers of Jumma Refugees are yet to get back their land and other benefits provided by the government.
As per the Clause 1 of Part D of the CHT Accord and upon signing the 20-Point Package Agreement between the government and Jumma refugee leaders on 9 March 1997 in Agartala, Tripura, India, a total number of 64,609 souls of 12,222 families were repatriated to Bangladesh. It is also to be mention that the government of Bangladesh had also signed another 16-point agreements in 1994 with the leaders of the Jumma refugees for bringing back them to their homes with the commitment of our security of our life and giving back our ancestral lands. The government re-assures through the CHT Accord its commitment to give back their dispossessed lands and support their rehabilitation.
Though most of the economic facilities, except land and homesteads, stated in the 20 Point Package Agreement were provided to the refugees through the Task Force. But still many families are yet to get cash against pairs of bullocks and still 40 ancestral Jumma villages are under the occupation of the settlers and 9,780 Jumma families are to get back their lands. As per agreement with us and the CHT Accord many of repatriated Jumma refugees have not got back our government jobs, those who have been able to get back their jobs their seniority have not been honoured and outstanding government loans have not been wiped out. This way there are many unresolved issues. Their rehabilitation has not been possible till today because of occupation of their land and villages by Bengali outsider settlers and army, Ansar and VDP personnel through their establishments.
The unimplemented points of the 20-Point Package Agreement published by the CHT Returnee Jumma Refugees' Welfare Association in its report are given in the following table:

Total number of Repatriated Jumma Refugees (64,609 persons)	12,222 families
Total number of Repatriated Jumma Refugees who have not got back their land, orchards or gardens and homesteads	9,780 families
Repatriated Jumma Refugees who have not received money for buying bullocks for cultivation	890 families
Schools not shifted to their previous locations	6 schools
Markets established on the land belonged to the Repatriated Jumma Refugees and not shifted to their previous locations	5 Markets
Buddhist monastery and Hindu temple illegally occupied	7 temples
Repatriated Jumma Refugee villages illegally occupied by settlers	40 villages
Number of Repatriated Jumma Refugees whose loan has not been exempted	642 persons

Clause 7 of this Part provides, “The loans which were taken by the tribal refugees from Government agencies, but could not be properly utilized on account of the state of belligerency, shall be remitted along with interest”. This provision has not been implemented properly. 642 refugees applied to the government for exemption of loan. Still the government has not taken any step to this effect.
Since the assumption of the office by the new coalition government in 2001, there have been illegal attempts to stop supplying ration to the Jumma repatriated refugees as planned by Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, ruling party MP from Khagrachari. A news item captioned “Stop ration to refugees” published in the Daily Ittefaq on 29 August 2003 narrates, “The Ministry of CHT Affairs applied to the Prime Minister for providing ration with the Jumma refugees. In response to this application, the Prime Minister Office informed that the Jumma refugees could no longer be provided with regular ration. Rather, it needs to be mooted whether or not something could be done in some way for their rehabilitation with the fund allocated by the Annual Development Programme (ADP). It is also learnt from the concerned sources that the Prime Minister Office rather instructed to continue regular ration to the Bengali settlers living in various cluster villages in the CHT, and to form a committee for their proper rehabilitation in the CHT.”
It was a clear case of an inhuman and racially discriminatory step to stop ration to the repatriated Jumma refugees. However the Prime Minister Office earlier in a letter No 22.59.1.0.0.98-2003-3+4 dated 10 May 2003 to the Ministry of CHT Affairs informed that ration would continue to the repatriated Jumma refugees.
Angry reaction ensued from the repatriated Jumma refugees against the decision of the government was published in the newspaper. The CHT Repatriated Jumma Refugees' Welfare Association organised a road blockade programme peacefully from 26 to 28 September 2003 in the Khagrachari Hill district demanding continuous supply of ration and implementation of other unimplemented demands until and unless their lands are returned and proper rehabilitation is done. Various political organisations and other Jumma organisations such as the Khagrachari Hill district PCJSS branch, Hill Students Council, CHT Youth Association, CHT Women Association, Hill Women’s Federation etc. supported the road blockade programme. A mammoth public rally was organised in front of the Khagrachari DC’s Office on the last day of the programme. After addressing the rally, the leaders of the repatriated Jumma refugees sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister. They gave an ultimatum to the government to meet their demands by 7 October 2003. In support of the ultimatum, the refugee leaders organised a silent procession on 7 October 2003 in Khagrachari, and sent another memorandum to the Prime Minister through the DC of Khagrachari. After meeting with the Prime Minister on 13 October, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of the CHT Affairs informed the refugee leaders of continuing ration to the refugees. Thereafter ration was provided to the refugees for three months, later on it was informed in an official letter that the ration allocated was really meant for six months. So the repatriated Jumma refugees are to survive half-fed for six months with three-month- ration having one square meal daily. It was a cruel farce on the part of the government with regard to the patience of the repatriated Jumma refugees which naturally resulted in an angry reaction among them once again.

Internationally Displaced People
The internal displacement of the CHT is originated from the aggressive colonial policy of the Bangladesh government through Islamization and Militerization - pressurizing for the assimilation into the majority culture of Bangladesh; giving settlement of the Muslim Bengalis to the areas of the indigenous Jumma people of CHT for making Muslim populated area and conducting atrocities, genocides, land dispossession, burning houses, torturing etc uprooted the indigenous Jumma people from their land. Due to these many Jumma people had to leave their villages, mauzas, areas and goes to the deep forest and live in a very intolerable condition. On the other hand, many Jumma people were forced to settle in the Bangladesh military created settlement jail in the name of rehabilitation namely Cluster Village (Guccha Gram), Peace Village (Shant Gram), and Big Village (Bara Gram) etc. In order to properly rehabilitate these "Internal Displacement of the Tribal people of CHT" Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti has put up Articles (1) and (2) in the Section (D) of CHT Accord 1997. These are: -
1. "After ascertaining the identity of the Internally Displaced Persons of the three hill districts, rehabilitation measures shall be undertaken through a Task Force."
2. "After the signing the Agreement between the Government and the Jana Samhati Samiti and implementation thereof and rehabilitation of the tribal refugees and INTERNALLY DISPLACED TRIBALS, the Government shall, as soon as possible, commence, in consultation with the Regional Council to the constituted under this Agreement, the Land Survey in Chittagong Hill Tracts and finally determine the land-ownership of the tribal people through settling the land-disputes on proper verification and shall record theirs land and ensure their rights thereto."
Implementation Process:
According to the Accord, a Task Force Committee has been constituted on 20 January 1998 and made Mr. Dipankar Talukdar, the Member of Parliament of the Rangamati Hill District as the Chairmen with 9 (nine) members. However, till now except the definition of the Internally Displaced Persons no progress has taken place. The Task Force accepted definition of Internally Displaced Persons is as: -
"In the time from 15 August 1975 to 10 August 1992 (from the day of the Ceasefire) due to the conspicuous unstable and commotion situation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban) the tribal people who has compelled to abandon their own village, Mauza, area and has gone or compelled to go others within the country will be considered as Internally Displaced Person."
Task Force accepted the above definition and the definition is clear that the Jumma people will be the only Internal Displaced Persons of CHT but the government has one-sidedly included the Bengali Muslim settlers who are illegally given settlement in CHT. The PCJSS and Jumma Refugee Welfare Association has protested against the inclusion and as a part of the protest boycotted the Task Force Meeting of 22 September 1999. The government has not responded about it whereas announced 38,156 settler families as Internal Displaced Persons. The Government point of view is that there is no identification that only the Jumma people will be counted as Internal Displaced Persons in the Terms of Reference of Task Force. The Government's Special Affairs Division is also circulated an ordinance to consider the outsiders settlers as Internal Displaced Persons on 19 July 1998 (Ref. No. S: L: B -78/98/185).
In fact the inclusion of the Bengali settlers in the Internal Displaced Persons is a direct violation of the CHT Accord and inconsistence of the Task Force accepted definition by the Government. According to the CHT Accord 1997 Article (2) of the Section (D) it has clearly identified "INTERNALLY DISPLACED TRIBALS" and the Task Force accepted definition is also accepted the Jumma as only the Internal Displaced Persons.
The PCJSS and Jumma Refugee Welfare Association has demanded to respect the CHT Accord 1997 and exclude the Bengali settlers from the list of the Internal Displaced Persons. The Bengali settlers cannot be beneficiaries of the Internal Displaced Persons of CHT because they are not even a permanent resident of CHT and also demand separate respectful rehabilitation for the Bengali settlers to the outside CHT. So far, Government has not responded about it and presently taking no initiative for activating the Task Force.
It is a fact that no internally displaced Jumma people have been rehabilitated so far. The government has initiated a process of rehabilitation of all the Bengali settlers brought into the CHT under the state-sponsored Muslim population transfer programme for Islamisation of the CHT by identifying them as “internally displaced persons”, though the Clause 1 and 2 of Part D of the CHT Accord allow such rehabilitation only for the internally displaced Jumma people. It resulted in a serious uncertainty over implementation of the CHT Accord and solution to the CHT conflict. In protest to the continued attempts of the Task Force to identify the Bengali settlers as “internally displaced persons” for rehabilitation in the CHT, the delegations of the PCJSS and the Returnee Jumma Refugee Welfare Association staged a walk-out from the 9th round of the meeting of the Task Force held on 22 September 1999. They boldly declared to the Task Force authorities that they would not join the meeting until and unless the process of rehabilitation of the Bengali settlers in the CHT was stopped, and issued a joint press release to this effect.
Later, at a unilateral meeting held on 15 May 2000, the authorities identified 90,208 Jumma families and 38,156 non-tribal Bengali settler families as “internally displaced families” and recommended a package programme for them. The following table shows the details of the number of “internally displaced families” and package for them in the three hill districts:

Hill district	Jumma families	Bengali settlers families	Total families
Rangamati	35,595	15,595	51,111
Bandarban	8,043	269	8,312
Khagrachari	46,570	22,371	68,941
Total:	90,208	38,156	128,314

a) Those who took Taka 5000 (five thousand only) as agricultural loan may be exempted from the loan; and
b) Those who took Taka more than 5000 (five thousand only) may be exempted from the interest accrued of it.

Land-related disputes under the ownership of the internally displaced Jumma people may be settled through the CHT Land (Disputes Settlement) Commission.
A grant may be provided for income-generating projects. And measures may be taken to give long-term loan from that grant on flexible terms through scheduled banks for production-oriented activities.

Against this backdrop, in June 2000, a memorandum from the PCJSS with following demands was submitted to the then Prime Minister and the Convenor of the CHT Accord Implementation Committee for rehabilitation of the internally displaced Jumma people and solution to the vexed Bengali settler-issue:
1. (a)    To cancel the process of identification of the non-tribal outsider Bengali settlers as “non-tribal    internally displaced persons” and of their rehabilitation in the CHT. And for this purpose, withdrawal of the letter dated 19 July 1998 sent from the Special Affairs Division to the Task Force instructing rehabilitation of the “internally displaced non-tribal persons”.
(b)    To transfer the non-tribal outsider Bengali settlers outside the CHT and rehabilitate them there.
2. (a)    To accelerate the process of rehabilitation of the internally displaced Jumma people.
(b)    To make a list of the internally displaced Jumma people excluded from that list made unilaterally by the Task Force on 15 may 2000.
3. To rehabilitate the internally displaced Jumma people on the basis of the package proposal made by the PCJSS rather than on the basis of 4-point package programme unilaterally made by the Task Force.
In this context, it may be mentioned that the package programme proposed by the Task Force for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced Jumma people was too inadequate to serve the purpose. Under no circumstances, their genuine rehabilitation would be possible with such package. That package was too less than that proposed by the PCJSS at the second round meeting of the Task Force. The package proposed by the PCJSS is:

The task of the Task Force came to an end with the end of the term of the previous government on 13 July 2001. The four-party coalition government led by BNP came to power following the general elections held on 1 October 2001. The PCJSS sent a letter bearing no. 287/PCJSS/2002 dated 30 July 2002 to the Prime Minister calling for the reconstitution of the Task Force. The government has already appointed Samiran Dewan, the Chairman of that body. It is a proven fact that the Task Force would not be able to carry out its function unless the government takes appropriate steps consistent with the CHT Accord for the proper rehabilitation of the internally displaced Jumma people.
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