Mizoram villagers agree to vote after Guv’s assurance

Aizawl: Residents of three villages of Mizoram near the Bangladesh border have agreed to exercise their franchise after Mizoram Governor Lt Gen (rtd) M M Lakhera assured them all possible help in getting their shares of compensation.

Alleging that they had not been given compensation, three villages of Marpara South, Tarabonia and New Sachan, affected by the ongoing Indo-Bangla border fencing had threatened to boycott the coming Lok Sabha polls until the Governor pacified them on Thursday.
After the Governor’s assurance,the villagers agreed to participate in the polls, official sources said. (UNI)
(Source: The Shillong Times, 27 March 2009)

Bangladesh: Rally against minor rape

This picture shows a huge rally by Chakma women in Khagrachari demanding immediate arrest of the rape accused, Mostafa who brutally raped a four-year-old Chakma girl, Ety Chakma. As stated below, there is allegation that the authorities are trying to protect the accused.

Chakma News expresses solidarity with the protest, and demands immediate arrest and punishment to the rapist. There is no compromise. The civilised society does not and should not tolerate a shameful act such as rape , irrespective of the caste/religion of the victim and the perpetrator.

Bangladesh: Minor Chakma girl raped by illegal settler

As the entire world observed the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2008, all hell wrecked upon a Chakma family in a remote village in Chiittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region of Bangladesh.

Four-year old Ety Chakma was raped by one Mostafa Mian, an illegal Bengali settler of Betchari village in Dighinala Upazila in Khagrachari district, CHTs. According to the victim’s parents (father Zhimit Chakma and mother Joshi Chakma), the girl went to the nearby river to take a bath when the accused raped her at 1 pm. The Miyeeni River is half a Kilometer away from the victim’s house at Shanti Lakshmipur village in Madhyom Boalkhali under Dighinala Upazila. The minor girl was found by the villagers and taken to Dighinala hospital from where she was referred to Khagrachari District Hospital. Her condition is stated to be critical

The victim’s parents alleged the Officer-in-Charge of Dighinala police station under duress got their signature on a “blank paper”.

The local indigenous peoples NGOs fear the police will try to shield the accused, as they have always done earlier in similar situations. The Bengalis from the plains are settled in CHTs as part of State Policy to annihilate the identity of the indigenous “Jumma” peoples of CHTs. The illegal settlers have been provided free ration by the Bangladesh government and protection by the army.

CHTs is a heavily militarized zone. Due to the presence of the military and the illegal settlers, the indigenous peoples in particular the women are extremely vulnerable to gross human rights violations. The women are often victims of sexual abuse, like the case of Ety Chakma, who is only four years old.

Displaced Chakma community hit by border fencing work

Zee News, 14 February 2008, http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2009-02-14/507534news.html

Aizawl, Feb 14: More than 35,000 people, majority of them belonging to the Chakma community are facing difficulty in the ongoing fencing along the 318-km long Mizoram-Bangladesh border but Mizoram government says they are not 'displaced'.

The Mizoram Home department, in reply to the complaint filed by the Asian Indigenous and Tribal People's Network (AITPN) to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said that the Chakmas along the Indo-Bangladesh border are not 'displaced' as the fencing line is not along the international border.

Deputy Secretary of Home Department Romawia said the families fenced out by the ongoing border fencing can remain outside the fencing or shift from the outside to the inner side.

"There is no objection if the 'fenced-out' families continue to reside outside the fencing," Romawia wrote in response to the AITPN's complaint which put the number of people to 35,000.

Reports said the entire Tarabonye hamlet has fallen outside the border fence and the families were prevented by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel from collecting river sand for sale, which was earlier their main source of income. Former state Chief Secretary Haukhum Hauzel was informed by villagers of Bindiasora, where around 80 families now fall outside the fence, about their plight, reports said. The government maintained that those affected by fencing were being compensated appropriately.

However, disputing the government's claim the Chakma residents ask "if we are not called displaced then who can be so?" A Chakma resident of Tarabonye hamlet said the villagers lodged a complaint to the Chief Secretary last year alleging inadequate compensation. Four public sector companies undertook the Mizoram-Bangladesh border fencing works. But neither the Centre nor the state government has publicly announced any resettlement and rehabilitation plan, the NGOs claimed.
Bureau Report