By Firstdespatch Desk May 11, 2023
On 7 April 2023, eight people belonging to ethnic Bawm community were killed in a remote village of Bandarban district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The local administration officials attributed the gruesome killing to a gunfight between UPDF (Democratic), a military backed armed vigilante group, and Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), a relatively obscure organisation with alleged links to a Bangladeshi Islamist militant outfit. However, accounts of eyewitnesses (who requested to be anonymous for security reasons) and reports from various sources sufficiently confirm that it was a premeditated, targeted and cold-blooded massacre of innocent villagers who had no connection whatsoever with either militancy or other form of violent activities. It is also to be noted that all the victims belong to Bawm nationality, a very small and marginalized community in Bangladesh, with a population of about 10,000 only (According to 1991 census their number was 6,978).
What actually happened?
It was about 6:30 am, on April 06. The villagers of Jurbharang-para were getting ready to go to their jum field when members of the vigilante group, the UPDF (Democratic), entered their village. The vigilantes, 20-25 in number, were armed with automatic weapons and fired a few shots in the air to frighten the villagers. They then gathered them together in a place and selected 23 of them to be taken to another village called Khamtang-para, about five kilometers from there. Among this23 were the karbari or head of the village, an employee of a government primary school and two students.
At Khamtang-para, they were held captive in Khamtang-para Government Primary School building, and after much interrogation the vigilantes released 15 of them in the afternoon on the condition that they autonomy would report back on 12 April at the same place. They also took their photographs before freeing them. Then they kept the rest in a separate room in the same building and subjected them to severe torture.
In the evening the vigilantes fired gunshots in the air apparently to scare the villagers and to create an illusion that there was a gunfight going on between two groups. At around 7:30 a.m., some members of the Bangladesh Army appeared at Khamtang-para in four military vehicles, met with the vigilantes and then left after a few minutes.
Torture before the killing
According a resident of Khamtang-para, the victims were brutally tortured while in captivity, and the next day (7 April), at between 7 to 8 a.m., the vigilantes took them behind a water tank near the school building and then shot them dead one by one. Before the killing, the vigilantes stripped the victims off their dresses, threw their dresses on the roof of the building and near the water tank and then tortured them again.
So severe was the torture that many got their limbs broken, and almost all of them had their heads badly injured. After being confirmed that all the eight victims were dead, the vigilantes had some of the villagers put the dead on military uniforms. Then the vigilantes, the military and the police set out together for Bandarban district headquarters through Roangchari Upazila (sub-district) town, taking the dead persons along with them: the vigilantes mounting on two vehicles and the army in three military trucks, while the police shared their van with the dead.
On 8 April, the dead bodies were handed over to their nearest relatives through Bawm Social Council after post-mortem examination at Bandarban Government hospital. However, before that, they were allowed to enter the margue to identify the victims. Those who saw the dead bodies said that there were no bullet holes on the uniforms of the deceased, while their bodies bore telltale marks of bullet wounds, a clear proof that none of them were wearing the military uniforms when they were shot and killed.
Identity of the victims
The deceased included LalThazarBawm, a clerk of Jurbharang-para Government Primary School; SangkhumBawm, an executive member of Jurbharang-para Christian Church; BoyremRoatBawm, a HSC exam candidate from Potia Government College; SanpirThangBawm, a second year student of RumaSangu College; BhanduhaBawm, LalLianAnkBawm, Bom Rang Thum and JeihimBawm. The first six are from Jurbharang-paravilalge, while Bom Rang Thumfrom Ronin-para and JeihimBawm from Paingkhyong-para village.
What the victims' near and dear ones say?
JingthlamoyBawm, the wife of late LallianAungBawm, said, 'My husband was never involved in terrorist activities, he was a jum cultivator
In the morning of that day, he went out to work in the jum field, but he was caught on the way and taken to Khamtang-para along with the other villagers." she added.
With five children to feed, she is very worried about her future. She wants justice for her innocent husband. SangkhumBawm was a carpenter and an executive member of Jurbharang-para Christian church. He lived with his family in a rented house in Suanolu-para. His wifelaldinThar Bawm said that they had gone back to their own village for a Good Friday programme. But the vigilantes kidnapped my husband along with the other 22 villagers, tortured him and shot him dead? He said.
She brushed aside the allegation that her husband was a member of the KNF and demanded that those involved in the killing of her husband and other innocent villagers be brought to justice.
Conclusion
From what has been transpired so far can safely be concluded that the killing of the eight Bawm villagers in Bandarban was premeditated and deliberate, and it was targeted against a particular community, Le.. The Bawm. It was also a cold-blooded massacre committed in the context of an ongoing military operation against the KNF, whose members are drawn exclusively from Bawm community.
If the statements of the eyewitnesses are correct, then it can be said that some members of the Bangladesh Army are complicit in the killing. There are already serious allegations against the Bangladesh Army of egregious human rights violations in the CHT, including extrajudicial killing, unlawful arrest and torture. Apart from that, they are also accused of patronizing and using armed vigilantes to terrorize the Jumma political activists. This is the reason why vigilante violence has become a new normal in the CHT, and it reached a climax on 18 August 2018 when the same vigilante group carried out a similar massacre in broad daylight at Swanirbhor bazar in Khagrachari town in the presence of the police and the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh). There has been no justice for this pogrom, and continued impunity only set the stage for further abuses, including the killing of the Bawms.
The government of Bangladesh cannot deny its responsibility to protect, promote and respect the human rights of the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. We therefore urge the government of Bangladesh to take the following measures
1) Initiate an independent and impartial inquiry into the killing of the eight Bawm villagers and bring the perpetrators to justice;
2) Disband vigilante groups including UPDF (Democratic) and the Marma Party
3) stop violations of human rights in the CHT and ensure justice for the victims of such violations;
4) implement the CHT accord of 1997 in to, demilitarize the CHT area and ensure a democratic environment to enable the Jumma political parties to carry out their peaceful activities without fear, and
5) Pay compensation to the families of the slain Bawm villagers.