Missionaries, martyrs and 500 years of faith in Bangladesh

Archbishop Moses M. Costa of Chittagong delivers a Mass during the annual Marian pilgrimage at Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in Diang in eastern Bangladesh in 2018. The Church will host a jubilee marking 500 years of Christianity in the country on Feb. 7-8 in the same city. (Photo by Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)

For centuries the port of Chittagong, washed by the waters of the Karnaphuli River, has fascinated and attracted travellers, traders, kings, warriors, and preachers of various religions.

In 1517, the river brought Portuguese Catholic merchants to the port. The first group left after their business was done, but a second group that arrived in 1518 decided to stay in Chittagong and nearby Diang, setting up the first Christian settlements in erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh).

"The Portuguese came mainly for business, but they also brought with them the faith in Christ. They developed the first community of Christians," Holy Cross Archbishop Moses M. Costa of Chittagong told ucanews.com.

Portuguese Jesuit priest Father Francesco Fernandez was the first Catholic missionary to set foot in Chittagong in 1598. Two Jesuit priests — Father Melchior de Fonseca and Father Andre Boves — and two Dominican priests followed his footsteps in 1599, and a band of Augustinian missionary priests turned up in the 1600s.

The Augustinians spearheaded the massive conversion of locals, mostly lower-caste Hindus from fishing community and port laborers, as well as slaves from various Indian states brought to Chittagong by merchant ships in 1622-1635.

By the middle of the 17th century, Catholics in Chittagong and neighboring areas stood at around 29,000.

Father Fonseca and Father Boves set up two churches in Diang and Chittagong in 1600, marking the first foothold of the Church in this part of the world.

Indigenous peoples struggle for survival in Bangladesh

An indigenous Garo girl lights a candle in Dhaka, Aug. 8, 2016, to mark the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples. (ucanews.com photo)

Two disastrous events in the past month have once again highlighted the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in Bangladesh.

On June 2, a Bengali Muslim mob, enraged by the alleged murder of a local politician by indigenous men, attacked their villages at Rangamati district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The violence reportedly left seven villagers killed, dozens injured and 300 houses destroyed, with police confirming two deaths. Among some 300 accused, only a dozen attackers were detained.

The ridiculous failure to protect indigenous peoples from violence is a prime example of state negligence toward them.

Two weeks later, deadly landslides hit southeast Bangladesh, badly affecting the Chittagong Hill Tracts in particular. Over 160 were killed, dozens injured and thousands lost their homes. Most of the victims were poor indigenous people.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Just days before, Cyclone Mora had lashed its wild tail, causing massive deforestation and cutting off the hills from Bengali Muslim settlers. The fatalities surpassed the 2007 landslide that killed 127 when it struck the same region.

The goodwill, support and sympathy from government agencies, rights groups, environmentalists and media in the wake of the communal violence and landslides will soon run out until another disaster strikes again. Hope for justice and remedy in those cases will soon blow up in smoke. After all, indigenous people in Bangladesh have a long history of political, economic and social discrimination at the hands of the state and mainstream Bengali society.

The forgotten people

In 1971, when Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan, the political leadership was obsessed with Bengali nationalism that helped propel the independence movement and engender war. Thus, in the first constitution of 1972, the new nation accepted religious pluralism but denied ethnic and cultural diversity. The ethnic minorities were forgotten in the charter, despite the fact that many of them fought against the Pakistan army side by side with Bengalis and took the brunt of the violence.

Nearly half of these ethnic communities live in the plain lands in the north, south and coastal regions, while others live in three hill districts: Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari, otherwise known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Until the 1991 national census, they were completely disregarded.

Even in the most recent 2001 census, they were erroneously enumerated. The government calculated between 1.5 and 2 million people, belonging to 25 small ethnic groups, as part of Bangladesh's population of 160 million. 

Indigenous leaders claim the number of groups is 45. However, independent researchers estimate the figure to be as high as 90 groups contributing a much larger population of 3 million. 

A struggle for recognition

The unique ways of life, cultures, traditions and heritage of the ethnic groups are extremely valuable to Bangladesh's history and multi-cultural identity, but they face increasing threats against their survival and struggle for recognition.

Constitutionally unrecognized, they are driven toward the edges and made to feel destitute. Forced to abandon their ancestral homes, they long for the forests that have been cleared and their lands that have been grabbed by Bengali people. This has led to a dislocation from their land, culture and history and a forced migration to the towns and cities in search of work. Bengali society has imposed its lifestyle and identity on them.

In 2010, at the time a constitutional amendment to citizenship identity was proposed, indigenous leaders appealed to the government to recognize them as "indigenous peoples," only to be rejected. Instead, they were given the new identity of "small ethnic groups" in the Small Ethnic Groups Cultural Institutes Act of 2010 leaving their identity in obscurity.

Our constitution guarantees equal rights to all people irrespective of race, caste, creed and religion but does not recognize non-Bengali ethnic minorities as distinct cultural groups.

The charter recognizes Bangladesh as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous nation of Bengali people whose national language is Bangla or Bengali. It calls for "establishing a uniform, mass-oriented system of education" which undermines the struggle of ethnic groups for protection of their culture and language from hegemony of Bengali language and culture.

Bangladesh is a signatory of the International Labor Organization's Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Populations (No. 107), but it has not ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity (No. 169) that contains more-detailed protective measures for indigenous peoples.

This country is governed by a strong, anti-indigenous nexus of ruling elite, bureaucrats, political parties, ultra-nationalists and bigots. They continuously put barriers up against the recognition, development and empowerment of indigenous peoples.

"No indigenous peoples"

The United Nations declared 1994-2004 as the First International Decade for the World's Indigenous Peoples and 2005-2014 as the Second International Decade for World's Indigenous Peoples. Annually, Aug. 9 has been designated as the International Day for the World's Indigenous Peoples.

This international day has never been officially celebrated in Bangladesh and the government perpetually discourages private celebrations. Political leaders, ministers and government officials claim there are "no indigenous peoples" citing historic references that say there were "no such groups" in this land before the 17th century.

The statement is based on a misguided interpretation of the label of indigenous.

The United Nations defines indigenous peoples as those "practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live."

Yet, our ethnic minorities still struggle for official recognition. Moreover, Bengali society often taunts them with the term "tribal" that they deem derogatory.

Time and again, ethnic groups such as the Garos of the Modhupur forests, the Santals in the north and Khasis in the northeast have faced threats of eviction, torture and even death over land disputes. Hamstrung by their lifestyles, indigenous people live modestly, are illiterate and ignorant of state economic or political processes. Many of them have lived on ancestral lands for decades but don't possess documentation for land rights. This helps to explain why they are susceptible to fraud and forgery, and have progressively lost their lands.

A double minority

The Chittagong Hill Tracts make up the country's only mountainous region, which borders India and Myanmar and is home to some 25 ethnic groups. The majority are Buddhists but there some are Christians.

Outside the Chittagong Hill Tracts, indigenous peoples don't typically have political parties. Where they do, they are often engaged in in-fighting and rivalry, which prevents them from truly safe-guarding their communities.

Ultimately, the fringe communities are politically marginalized, insecure and under-represented, seriously limiting their access to socio-economic development.  

The indigenous peoples are mostly non-Muslims—Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and ancient religions — making them a double minority. Some ethnic groups such as Garo, Khasis, Santal and Tripura, are largely Christian. Four out of the country's eight Catholic dioceses are predominantly indigenous.

Often the Catholic Church stands beside the indigenous people to protect their lives, livelihood and culture. Thus, the church also faces the ire of the state machinery and opportunist Muslims. In 1967, Archbishop Lawrence Granner of Dhaka was forced to leave the country after he strongly criticized state-sponsored communal riots against indigenous peoples.

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Islamic radicals sometimes accuse the church and church groups of acting as agents of foreign countries and fueling unrest to secede the region to create an independent country. Fearing backlash, the church works with indigenous people silently, sometimes compromising the interests of the people to save them from the threats of Bengali Muslims.

In general, indigenous peoples are poor, have little access to resources, are progressively losing their lands and properties, and continuously face social, political, cultural exploitation, discrimination and harassment. Constitutional and legal protections should be applied to help uplift them from their current struggle for survival. Support from aid agencies and civil society groups also play a vital role for their development and empowerment.

At a minimum, indigenous peoples deserve to be recognized as equal citizens to their fellow Bengali countrymen and given their entitlements to rights so they may prosper as equal human beings.

END

Click for original report

Bangladesh Church must speak out on long running anti-Christian campaign

The Catholic church in Bandarban, southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts is at the center of an anti-Christian campaign (Photo: Chittagong Catholic Diocese website)

Silence is often prudent but at other times it’s plain foolish, as is the case with the Catholic Church and Christians in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), where their deathly silence in response to a long-running anti-Christian campaign is working against them.

In March and April, local newspapers and online media ran a cooked-up story against priests and religious brothers from the Queen of Fatima Catholic Church in Bandarban, the largest and one of the oldest Catholic churches in the CHT.

The report alleged that the priests and religious were sexually abusing tribal girls residing in a Church-run hostel.

To escape the abuses, some 71 girls fled the hostel one night, prompting Church leaders to pay off local officials to cover everything up, it claimed.

The girls actually fled in protest against the woman in charge of the hostel, a tribal woman who the girls say treated them badly. They absconded after several pleas to have the woman replaced fell on deaf ears. The girls later returned after the woman was dismissed.

The concocted abuse story came from local journalists looking to extort money from Church officials and was encouraged by local Muslim leaders who have a history of anti-Christian sentiment.

This is not an isolated case, but part of a game that’s been played against the Church and Christians for nearly a decade. During this time, several Islamist and mainstream newspapers have run fabricated reports accusing Christian missioners of converting thousands of tribals with the lure of money and plotting to turn the CHT into an independent Christian country like Timor-Leste.

The reports also alleged that several Western countries were funding Christian NGO activities to change the religious demography of the CHT to fulfill this agenda.

Church leaders and development activists have told me privately that government intelligence agents have paid them visits asking them how many Christians were in the area and how Christian NGOs were being funded.

Last year, the Hefazat-e-Islam militant group staged two rallies in Dhaka to make 13 demands. Most Christians failed to notice that one of them was a crackdown on “unlawful activities by Christian missioners and NGOs in the CHT”.

Throughout this time, Church leaders have remained silent. They have neither spoken to the authorities nor refuted the baseless claims in the mainstream press. They also didn’t opt for official complaints and protests, not even with regard to the Hefazat-e-Islam rallies.

The CHT, which borders India and Myanmar, is the only mountainous region of Bangladesh. This strategically important area is home to more than 12 indigenous tribes, mostly Buddhist, who have lived there for centuries and been socially and economically neglected for decades.

These peace loving people have seen the systematic destruction of their culture and livelihood since the 1970s when the government started changing the local demography by resettling landless Bengali Muslims who started grabbing tribal lands. The result has been ongoing sectarian conflict in these hills.

Tribals resisted the influx and, with latent support from India, formed a militia group to fight the settlers.

In response, the government turned the area into a military zone. For more than two decades, a bloody bush war between the army and militants claimed hundreds of lives until it ended with the CHT Peace Accord in 1997, which is still to be implemented. To this day, the region is heavily militarized with some 500 army camps.

Christian missioners arrived in the 1950s, and today Christians account for less than three percent of the region’s 1.6 million people.

The Muslim population, however, has increased from less than three percent in 1947 to more than 48 percent today. Tribals are still larger in number, but they are marginal in city centers and most businesses are controlled by Bengalis.

With such a small Christian presence, claims that missioners and NGO’s are trying to create another Timor-Leste are nothing more than ill intentioned fairy tales and simply not possible .

Yet, the rumors are rife and are being fed by local Bengali Muslim groups, who are aggressively anti-tribal.

They are the force behind the occupation of tribal lands by Muslim settlers. They are also backed by civil and military officials, and Islamic fundamentalist groups like Hefazat. All are trying to discredit the Church to divert national and international attention away from the grim political and rights situation for tribals in the CHT.

The war is over, but sectarian clashes between tribals and Muslims and rival tribal groups are still common.

According to a local rights group, Muslims killed 11 tribal men, raped 15 tribal women and burned down more than 100 tribal homes last year. Rights activists also accuse the government and army of keeping unrest alive to legitimize the militarization of the area.

International rights groups including Amnesty International have reported gross human rights violations by Muslim settlers and soldiers on tribal people. These include murder, torture, arson and rape.

Environmental groups allege the region is facing an environmental disaster because of deforestation and tobacco cultivation by the settlers.

Foreigners are generally not allowed in the CHT; but if they are it is usually under close surveillance. It is not because armed tribal groups might kidnap them for ransom, but mostly to stop them seeing what really goes on there.

Like in other parts of the country, Catholics and Protestants have set up dozens of schools, vocational centers, health clinics, and conducted development activities in the CHT to help tribals, non-tribals, Christians and non-Christians alike.

In most other places, Christians are held in high esteem by Muslims for their contributions in the education, health and development sectors, but in the CHT they are being vilified.

One reason is the activities of Christian missioners who have made tribal people more aware of their rights and more vocal.

The Bandarban Church incident is the most recent example of this vilification and could have been a lot worse if local Muslims had believed the stories that were told.

A 1998 mob attack by Muslims on several churches and Christian institutions in the Luxmibazar district of Dhaka during a land dispute between a Catholic school and a local mosque should serve as a gentle reminder as to how vulnerable Christians are.

Church leaders should realize that Christian haters consider their silence as weakness. They should learn from the recent attempt to stoke anti-Christian feelings in the CHT and act strongly and accordingly.

If they don’t take this seriously, they can be assured that the worst is yet to come.

END 

Read original opinion piece here Bangladesh Church must speak out on long running anti-Christian campaign

Peace a far cry, pressure a reality



Tribal people in Chittagong Hill Tracts once largely depended on Jhum (slash and burn) cultivation



During my recent travel to southeastern port city Chittagong I had a brief chat with one Church high official in and he told me they read ucanews.com reports in here regularly. I was glad to know that because few people (about 4%) use internet in Bangladesh and to be online for information is not yet an essential part of life for most people here.

The Church dignitary (who didn’t want to be named) lauded our efforts in covering the life of the Church. However, he warned me to be cautious while reporting on some issues from Chittagong, one of the diverse Catholic dioceses in the country.

In an earlier post I wrote about the significant nature of the diocese where Bengali and ethnic tribals make up over 39,000 Catholic population.

Half of the Catholics in the diocese are tribals, mostly Tripura people who live up on hills at three southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) districts along with about 25 fellow tribal groups.

The official several times cautioned me not to mention in reports anything about evangelization, conversion and Church statistics, especially from Church on hills. There are six Catholic parishes and some sub-centers in CHT.

From the very beginning we had been very vigilant to skip reporting any issues relating to evangelization and conversion, but we include Church statistics sometimes in our reports to show Church life and growth.

“Constitution and the law of the land allow us to freely practice our religion and administer missionary activities, (but) there is a continued political pressure,” he said.

He further added that intelligence and detective branches often ask Church authorities to provide them with Church statistics. They fear that if the number of Christians grow they will join neighboring Indian states where tribal Christians make-up significant portion and split from Bangladesh.

“This is an unrealistic and imaginative idea, but who will turn it around, as they don’t think otherwise because of political anxiety,” the official lamented.

The life of tribals on hills is unique, unparallel and most significantly challenging in forested and impassable region. They are very simple people and have their own way of living the life.

When Catholic Church reached to CHT in 1950s and eventually once Caritas started operating there things changed rapidly.

Now fewer people depend on Jhum cultivation which is destructive for the environment. Besides, the Church pioneered education, health and so on for tribals as necessary. It is regrettable that the Church is under surveillance now.

The recurring trouble has a real long root of origin.

The tribals are oldest settlers of CHT from an undocumented period of time. During 1970 and 1980s successive governments in the country attempted to resettle Bengali people on hills that were resisted by tribals. The influx of Bengali people was a premeditative counter insurgency measure.

Governments perhaps were worried that CHT might split out from the newly independent country and may join in to any other neighboring country that borders Bangladesh.

The tribals led by Parbatto Chattogram Jono Shanghati Samiti (PCJSS, United People’s Party of the CHT) formed a militia force called ‘Shanti Bahini’ (Peace Force) and it continued fighting against Bengali settlers and government forces.

The 23 years battle ended with much-desired Peace Accord in 1997. From the beginning of fighting the area was heavily militarized and even after over a decade it is still left that way. That means political worries didn’t wash away.

A fraction PCJSS and some disgruntled tribals opposed the treaty and later formed an armed force called United People’s democratic Front (UPDF) and continued sporadic fighting with pro-accord parties and also with Bengali settlers. Now-a-days clashes between Bengali and tribals are frequent on hills.

The war ends, but the fight ends never.

A recent UN report catalogued mass human rights violations in CHT and another blog post put forth the voice of one of the victims.

The undeserved pressure for Church in hills is not likely to go away soon, nor will the hills return to total peace. No one knows how long this wall of suspicion will haunt people on hills.

@UCAN Blogs on June 22, 2011

Visit UCAN Blogs- Give Us This Day

-->