Human Rights Violations Formidable and On-Going in Chittagong Hill Tracts Under the BNP Government

News ၊ July 7, 2026

Local sources indicate that following the ascension of the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government led by Tarique Rahman, human rights violations against the Jumma ethnic groups within the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) have continued unabated and steadily deteriorated.

Criticisms have emerged that the BNP which formed the government after winning the parliamentary election last February is not only failing to implement the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord (CHT Accord) but is also violating the spirit of the agreement by appointing a member of the Bengali community from outside the region as State Minister in the Ministry of CHT Affairs.

According to a statement released by the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), during the first half of the year from January to June 2026, no fewer than 57 human rights violations occurred in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, resulting in 154 Jumma indigenous people suffering human rights abuses and 10 individuals losing their lives.

These incidents include patrol and harassment operations inside civilian villages by security forces, as well as abductions, extortion, and killings by army-backed armed groups (UPDF, Mog Party, KNF).

Reports also point out that violence against young Jumma women, land grabbing, and the forced conversion of Mro, Tripura, and Chakma children to Islam by exploiting their poverty are continuously being perpetrated by Bengali settlers and Rohingya groups.

Local activists and civil society organizations are urging the government to pursue a peaceful political resolution to the CHT issue, rather than relying on military force and fascist methods, and to immediately bring an end to human rights violations.

Source@hillvoice