8 years of Mahalchari communal attack

On this day: in 2003, Bengali settlers and Bangladesh military launched a horrendous communal attack on the indigenous Jumma people of Mahalchari Upazila under Khagrachari Hill District of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Region. As a result, more than 350 indigenous Jumma households of 14 villages under five Moujas had been looted and burnt to ashes.

Moreover, more than 100 Jumma houses including four Buddhist temples, one UNICEF run primary school, a good number of shops and statues of Lord Buddha had been destroyed, ransacked and looted. Valuables worth over Taka 30 millions had been destroyed.

Two Jumma people including one eight-month-old child had been murdered by Bengali settlers and military. Ten Jumma women had been raped.

When the indigenous people went to register cases against the Bengali settlers at the Mahalchari police station, police refused to register them. Ultimately, after the Khagrachari court gave a court order, police filed two cases against the Bengali settlers. The Officer in Charge of Mahalchari Thana himself filed a case on behalf of the settlers accusing some 4,000 indigenous people of attacking the settlers.

Following is a documentary based on interviews of the victims of attack in Mahalchari: 






Amnesty international report on the incident: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA13/003/2004/en/4136499d-d5fa-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/asa130032004en.html


Following is the report from Hill Watch Human Rights Forum:


Mayhem at Mahalchari-Internet Edition