Bangladesh Woman Persecuted and Abducted in 1996 for Speaking Out for Human Rights
Kalpana Chakma was a human rights activist from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. She held the position of Organizing Secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation and was very vocal in criticizing the Bangladesh Army for its repression and harassment of indigenous men and women. She had been working for the rights of these indigenous folk and protesting their repression by organizing conferences, seminars, and meetings throughout the Chittagong Tracts. She also lent her strong support to a movement dedicated to the autonomy of the CHT, which was headed by the political party representing the indigenous population, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), which at the time was a paramilitary separatist organization of the indigenous people of the CHT. The organization demilitarized in 1997 after the CHT peace treaty of Dec. 2. She took an active part in electioneering in favor of the independent candidate Bijay Ketan Chakma, who was the senior presidium member of Pahari Gana Parishad, during the general parliamentary elections of Bangladesh on June 12.
The Abduction:
On June 12, at around 1:00 am, Chakma, along with her two brothers, was abducted by members of the Bangladesh Army, from her home in Lallyaghona of Rangamati in the CHT. Army Lieutenant Ferdous, along with Nurul Haque and Saleh Ahmed, two members of the Village Defense Party from the Kojoichari Army Barrack, raided Chakma’s home and removed her forcibly.
Chakma’s mother told reporters that the family was sleeping and someone from outside called out asking who was in the house. Minutes later, the men raided the house, and took Chakma and her brothers, leaving only her mother and her elder brother’s wife.
Kalicharan, the elder brother and the household’s breadwinner told reporters that the three were blindfolded and their hands bound. They were told to sit down by the house’s well, where after a number of minutes, some of the men – who were dressed in army fatigues – took Khudarim from them.
Khudarim, the younger brother, managed to escape; he later told reporters that after being asked to dip into a lake by the well, one of the men said “shoot him”, after which Khudarim frantically loosened his restraints, removed the blindfold, and ran through the waist-high water to his escape. Kalicharan also escaped, in much the same way during the commotion. Kalpana herself did not manage to escape.
News of the incident spread fast, and in the morning, Khudarim along with another man went to Kojoichari to inquire about Chakma, but they immediately accused him of belonging to the Shanti Bahini – the armed branch of the PCJSS – and threatened him. Kalicharan went to the Baghaichari police station to register a First Information Report, but neither the police nor the army camp took any action to release Chakma from her kidnappers.
Under severe criticism from national and international organizations, the police superintendent of Rangamati paid a visit to the house and informed the family that there were 180 barracks in Rangamati alone, and he couldn’t search them all. On July 14, several women’s organizations jointly submitted a memo to the minister of internal affairs, who advised them to meet with the prime minister, as the ministry of internal affairs did not concern itself with law and order in the CHT. He also told them that the CHT was an operational zone, and as a result, under the jurisdiction of the Commander of the Chittagong Division of the Bengali Army, and that he had nothing to do with the matter. Police investigators did not take indigenous eyewitnesses into account, nor did they question the accused soldiers.
Excuses, Excuses
On July 18, the Bangladesh army circulated leaflets via helicopter, declaring a reward of 50,000 Taka ($1,162.79) for any information on Chakma’s whereabouts. The Hill Watch Human Rights Forum (HWHRF) accused the Bangladesh Army of intentionally covering up the truth about the abduction after the Army vehemently denied the accusation that Lt. Ferdous or any other member of the army was involved in the abduction of Kalpana Chakma. The army’s story changed in the face of later protest and condemnation, claiming the entire incident was a “love affair”. The army changed their story yet again on the 23rd, stating that Chakma had a passport and secretly traveled abroad. This blatantly fraudulent claim was refuted by the indigenous activists, and it was found that Chakma did not, in fact, have a passport. Women’s rights groups claim the soldiers in question are still on active duty.
Lessons from the Incident:
This is a very clear case of discrimination and persecution of both indigenous peoples, as well as women, by an oppressive majority. If close to twenty years later, Chakma is still alive, she is no doubt physically and mentally damaged. There is no telling how she was tortured, deprived, perhaps raped. Maybe even executed. In this kind of environment, things will never improve for women or indigenous people if crimes like this are allowed to go unpunished. It is vitally important for both the indigenous population of the CHT, as well as women all over Bangladesh, and indeed all over the world, that crimes like this – abduction, persecution, abuse of authority – are stopped, and punished through due process of law.