{"id":88212,"date":"2019-05-04T16:04:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T23:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88212"},"modified":"2019-05-04T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T23:06:57","slug":"muslim-violence-against-buddhists-in-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/04\/muslim-violence-against-buddhists-in-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"MUSLIM VIOLENCE AGAINST BUDDHISTS IN BANGLADESH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Buddhists\nof Bangladesh are descendants of the earliest Buddhists of the Indian\nsubcontinent and inherit the illustrious Buddhist culture and civilization of\nancient India. Buddhism thrived in the greater Bengal region of northeast India\nfrom the early 3rd<\/sup> century BCE until the 12th<\/sup> century CE,\nmaking the region the last stronghold of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent.\nIn the 5th<\/sup> century CE, or more than 1500 years ago, Fa Hsien the\nfamous Chinese pilgrim visited this region (Tamralipti-West Bengal), and\nreported on the many well-established Buddhist monasteries in Bengal. In the\n7th century CE, Huen-Tsang visited Bengal and reported on the several thousands\nof Buddhist monks and many hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, some being outstanding\nseats of learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PALA BUDDHIST DYNASTY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 750 CE and 1150 CE, Buddhist civilization reached the pinnacle\nin the history of Bengal under the guidance of Pala Kings who were devout\nBuddhists. The Pala Buddhist<\/a> Empire ushered in a period of stability and prosperity\nin Bengal<\/a>. This was the first independent Buddhist dynasty of\nBengal. Many temples, monasteries and places of learning equal to universities\nwere built during this time. The Pala Empire can be considered as the golden\nera of Bengal. Never had the Bengali people reached such heights of power and\nglory. It was during the Pala period that Bengal became the main centre of\nBuddhist as well as secular learning in Bengal with the establishment of some\nof the most ancient universities of the world – Universities such as\nVikramshila, Jagadala, Somapura Mahavihara, Shalban, Paharpur, Vickrampuri\nMahavihara, and Pandit Vihara, flourished under the patronage of the Pala\nkings. Palas were responsible for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet<\/a>, Bhutan<\/a> and Myanmar<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1125 CE, the Sena dynasty who were Hindus invaded and ousted the Pala\ndynasty which led to the decline of the former Buddhist supremacy in Bengal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Buddhists were harassed and killed by the armies of the Sena rulers. Some\nSena rulers were instrumental in forcing Buddhists to convert to caste-based\nHinduism. Buddhism was subject to serious decline during this period.  Buddhist shrines and places of learning\nincluding the universities were neglected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUSLIM INVASION AND ATROCITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 13th<\/sup> century, Muslim invaders under the leadership of Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar\nKhilji<\/a>, defeated the Sena king Lakshman\nSena<\/a> and established Muslim rule\nin the entire Bengal region. Muslim rule led to widespread harassment and\nviolence against Hindus and Buddhists, and extensive destruction of Buddhist\nshrines, monasteries and places of learning. Many Buddhist monks were killed\nand violent means were used to forcibly convert Buddhists and Hindus to Islam.\nMost Buddhists who survived this onslaught moved to the Chittagong Hill Tract\nareas in order to escape harassment and violence. This resulted in the general\nconcentration of Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRITISH RULE AND DIVISION OF BENGAL <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 17th<\/sup> century and towards\nthe latter half of the 18th<\/sup> century, the British East India Company\nwas encroaching Bengal and were in control of most of the Bengal region. In\nlate 1760, the British East-India Company established their rule in Bangladesh.\nThe Buddhists who were largely concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas\nwere severely affected by the \u2018Great famine in Bengal\u2019 in the 1769-70 period\nwhich killed nearly 10 million people among whom were many Buddhists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian Mutiny<\/a> of 1857 replaced rule by the British East India Company with the direct\ncontrol of Bengal by the British<\/a>\ngovernment. Known as one of the most active provinces in freedom\nfighting\u201d, Bengal was divided by the British in 1905, for administrative\npurposes. This resulted in an overwhelmingly Hindu<\/a> west including present-day Bihar<\/a> and Orissa<\/a> and a predominantly Muslim<\/a> east including Assam<\/a>, which included the Buddhist occupied Chittagong Hill Tract region. Hindu\nBengalese disagreed with the partition saying that it will divide Bengal which\nis united by language and history. But the Muslims supported partition. In\n1912, owing to strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited East and West\nBengal. However, Bengal was subject to partition again in 1947. Bengal split\ninto the state of West\nBengal<\/a> of India<\/a> and a Muslim<\/a> region of East Bengal<\/a> under Pakistan<\/a>, renamed East Pakistan<\/a> in\n1958. East Pakistan later rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become in\n1971, the independent Republic<\/a> of Bangladesh<\/a>.                                                                                            <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUDDHISTS OF BANGLADESH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhists flourished during the Pala kingdom\nas the predominant Bengalese population with a highly advanced culture and\ncivilization. The Chittagong Hill Tracts functioned as an independent region\ndominated by Buddhists until the British period. The Buddhists of the\nChittagong region are popularly known as Jumma people or Jumma Buddhists. They\nform four small indigenous Buddhist communities: Chakma, Marma, Tanchyangya and\nChak. Anthropologically they are all Mongolian origin and a peace-loving\nfarming community. Their numbers dwindled substantially during the Sena and\nBritish periods of rule and thereafter with the establishment of East Pakistan\nand Bangladesh. In the present Bangladesh, Buddhists are confined to the\nsouth-east part of the country or the Chittagong Hill Tract which is also known\nas Jumma or Hill. The\nChittagong Hill Tracts covers areas comprising the Rangamati, Khagrachhari and\nBandarban districts of Bangladesh and is flanked by two international borders –\non the southeast by Myanmar and on the north by India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                                                 \nAGGRESSION AGAINST BUDDHISTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successive Muslim rulers of the former East Pakistan and later\nBangladesh were instrumental in undermining and discriminating against the\nJumma Buddhist community in the Chittagong Hill Tract. They imposed a\ntyrannical rule upon these people. Between 1957 and 1963, the then Pakistan\ngovernment overlooking the opinions and objections of the Jumma Buddhists,  built a massive hydroelectric dam and\nreservoir in the Chittagong Hill Tract region. The dam and reservoir flooded\n54,000 acres of productive farm lands of Jumma Buddhists and resulted in the\nloss of a further 40% of land belonging to Jumma Buddhist farmers. About\n100,000 Jumma Buddhists were adversely affected by this so-called development\nproject. About 40,000 of them had to be moved out of their traditional land as\na result of this hydro dam project. Some of these people moved to India and are\nnow living in Arunachal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VIOLENT ENCROACHMENT OF LAND OF BUDDHISTS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jumma Buddhists, successive governments of Bangladesh were\nengaged in implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing to eradicate the\nindigenous Jumma Buddhists. Among the most horrendous acts against Jumma\nBuddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tract region, was the settling of more than\n400,000 Muslims from other areas in ancestral lands of the Jumma Buddhist community.\nThis encroachment of land owned and occupied by Buddhists is said to be continuing\na rapid scale even in recent years. This has created a highly volatile\nsituation resulting in constant clashes between the two groups of people. In addition,\nmore than 100,000 military and paramilitary personnel have been stationed in\nthe Chittagong Hill Tract making life insecure and miserable for the Jumma\nBuddhist community. The region today is crime prone, characterized by arson,\nkilling, rape, land grabbing, and destruction of Buddhist temples,\nextra-judicial arrest and detentions. Between 1986 to1989 more than 70,000\nJumma Buddhists have fled Bangladesh and sought refuge in the Tripura state of\nIndia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ARMED STRUGGLE AND PEACE ACCORD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence\ncentering on land issues has been going on in this region since 1978, especially\nsince the settling government, of Muslim people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts\nland traditionally owned by Buddhists. Many Buddhists were harassed and were\nforced to leave their traditional land. \nOwing to continued harassment the Buddhists collectively protested and\nlaunched an armed struggle during the early 1980s, demanding full autonomy for\nthe Chittagong Hill Tracts. This continued\nfor two decades and an Accord was signed between the Jumma People\u2019s political\nparty of the Buddhists and Bangladesh government in December 1997, to withdraw\nthe new settlers and the military from Chittagong Hill Tract. Expecting a peaceful situation\nfollowing the Peace Accord, many indigenous people who had fled to refugee\ncamps in India during times of violence, started returning home, only to find\ntheir land encroached upon by Muslims. The Buddhists allege that the Accord was not respected by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                                                      BUDDHIST\nRIGHTS VIOLATED BY MUSLIMS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of Jumma Buddhist families who were displaced owing to\nviolence have not been resettled, and the number of poverty-stricken Jumma\nrefugees have increased substantially. Among them are thousands of children who\nare deprived of their education. Human Rights abuses continue to occur with the\nmilitary resorting to violence against Buddhists. On 20th April 1999, the\nmilitary and Muslim settlers attacked the Jumma Buddhists at Babuchara bazaar\nkilling and wounding many Jumma Buddhists. In recent years Muslim extremism and violent tendencies have intensified.\nAccording to a Congressional Research Service Report of 2008,  authorities in Bangladesh have expressed\nconcern about the use of madrasas or Islamic religious schools by a network of\nIslamic activists who were interrogated in connection with several attempted\nand successful bombing attacks across the country. Several madrasa students\nwere detained in connection with such  investigations (CRS Report January 2008). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early part of 2010, the\nChittagong Hill Tracts region was rocked by violence, flaring up decades old\nethnic-religious tensions, as Muslim settlers set fire to hundreds of homes of\nindigenous Buddhists resulting in many deaths and many injuries. Thousands of\nBuddhists have been left homeless. These attacks were meant to forcibly grab\nland and properties of Buddhists. This violence was committed in the presence\nof law enforcement officers including soldiers who were Muslims. According to\nJumma people, Muslim military personnel have been involved in gross human\nrights violations with impunity, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts for many years.\nMany indigenous Buddhist people of affected villages continue to live in\nhiding, in dense forests and some have abandoned their ancestral land and had\nmoved to other villages and are leading desperate lives. Since 1980 there have been 14 major instances of massacre\nof thousands of Jumma people by the illegal Bengali Muslim settlers and in\nco-operation with the law enforce agencies of Bangladesh. Many Buddhists<\/a> have experienced persecution\nbecause of their faith including unwarranted arrest, imprisonment, beating,\ntorture, execution, and also including \nconfiscation or destruction of property, or the incitement of hatred\ntowards Buddhists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Press Release on March 08, 2010, by the CHT-American Jumma People\u2019s\nAssociation of the Indigenous Jumma People\u2019s Network, USA, strongly condemns the continuous atrocities and\narson to which the indigenous Jumma Buddhist people in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs)\nhave been subject to and the illegal Bengali Muslim settlers backed by\nBangladesh army personnel who had burnt down houses and public buildings.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 80,000 Jummas have fled across the border to India. Villages\nhave been burnt down completely (www.jpnuk.org.uk<\/a>, www.achrweb.org<\/a>).  What these attacks on the indigenous Jumma people reveal is the fact that the government\nof Bangladesh has failed to change its policy of indiscriminate killings of\nindigenous Jumma people in order to occupy their lands and implant more illegal\nplain settlers instead of implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of\n1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2012, there was a series of attacks by\nMuslims, on Buddhists and Buddhist sites in Bangladesh. This was referred to as\nthe Ramu Violence, which involved a series of attacks on Buddhists and\ndestruction of many Buddhist<\/a> shrines, monasteries, and houses of Buddhist\ninhabitants in the Cox’s Bazar <\/a>and Chittagong Districts of Bangladesh<\/a> by local Muslim mobs. An estimated 25,000 Muslims participated\nin the violence directed at Buddhists. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<\/a> condemned the anti-Buddhist violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane Buddhists of Bangladesh are descendants of the earliest Buddhists of the Indian subcontinent and inherit the illustrious Buddhist culture and civilization of ancient India. Buddhism thrived in the greater Bengal region of northeast India from the early 3rd century BCE until the 12th century CE, making the region the last stronghold of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}