Commentary Report After the gang-rape of a Marma schoolgirl in Khagrachari on 23 September, when protests began demanding justice, a certain group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts started shouting about \u201csovereignty.\u201d Their cries sounded like: \u201cIt\u2019s all over, sovereignty is gone!\u201d They somehow discovered a \u201cforeign conspiracy\u201d behind the anti-rape movement.<\/p>\n But what\u2019s astonishing is this: when settlers hold rallies, militant processions, and strikes with false accusations to protect the criminal rapists and attackers \u2014 when they unleash communal violence against hill people, burn their homes, and loot their property \u2014 these same people do not see any \u201cconspiracy to destroy\u201d the indigenous communities. Rather, they seem to think such attacks are necessary to protect the country\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n As a result, none of these attacks are investigated, and the perpetrators go unpunished \u2014 in fact, they are often rewarded. This pattern has continued in the Chittagong Hill Tracts for generations.<\/p>\n Listening to the so-called \u201cguardians of sovereignty,\u201d one might think that if the hill peoples hold a peaceful rally or raise a just demand, the nation\u2019s sovereignty will somehow collapse \u2014 as if sovereignty were so fragile! Hence, far from accepting the demands of the hill peoples, these \u201cguardians\u201d do not even want them to voice their grievances. They refuse to allow peaceful movements and instead provoke communal clashes to suppress them.<\/p>\n For example, on 19\u201320 September 2024, communal attacks were carried out in Dighinala, Khagrachari, and Rangamati, and again on 28 September this year in Ramesu Bazar of Guimara, a Marma-inhabited area. In both instances, the hill peoples were peacefully protesting for their legitimate demands.<\/p>\n The \u201cstandard-bearers of sovereignty\u201d hold the belief that the hill peoples are a threat to sovereignty. Therefore, they do not allow the indigenous Jumma political parties to operate democratically or to exercise freedom of speech. On the rare occasion when someone dares to speak openly or tell the truth, they are silenced through sham trials \u2014 kangaroo courts that hand down prison sentences as punishment. They are subjected to direct and indirect intimidation and threats.<\/p>\n These \u201cdefenders\u201d want to fill the hills with army and security camps \u2014 to turn the entire Chittagong Hill Tracts into one vast cantonment.<\/p>\n They have no trust whatsoever in the hill peoples when it comes to protecting sovereignty. That is why they aim to resettle Bengali Muslims throughout the region \u2014 to transform the Hill Tracts into a Bengali-Muslim-dominated area. To achieve that, the lands of the indigenous peoples must be seized, which inevitably leads to conflict. And every time, the state takes the side of the settlers.<\/p>\n The views of these \u201cprotectors of sovereignty\u201d regarding sovereignty and the Chittagong Hill Tracts are a blatant manifestation of extremist Bengali Muslim nationalism. Deep down, they do not consider the hill peoples to be true citizens of Bangladesh; they regard them as enemies \u2014 as obstacles to national sovereignty. Thus, far from granting them the right to self-determination, they are even denied their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.<\/p>\n Undoubtedly, sovereignty is an extremely sensitive and important matter for any country. It is not only a military issue but also a political one. Therefore, the question arises: if sovereignty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is under threat, can it truly be protected by excluding the indigenous peoples \u2014 by distrusting or being hostile toward them \u2014 relying solely on military means?<\/p>\n Those who think so have no real understanding of what sovereignty means or how it is preserved.<\/p>\n One major reason for the ongoing unrest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is that the fate of the region has been handed over exclusively to these ignorant \u201cdealers in sovereignty\u201d \u2014 the generals. Today in Bangladesh, there seems to be no political leader capable of asserting control and authority over these generals or offering a rational political solution to the Hill Tracts issue.<\/p>\n It must be remembered that, ultimately, the protection of sovereignty \u2014 like the waging of war \u2014 is a matter of political decision-making, not something to be left entirely to the generals. Whenever it is left to them, the outcome is never good.<\/p>\n Therefore, borrowing the famous remark of French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau during World War I \u2014 and replacing the word \u201cwar\u201d with \u201csovereignty\u201d \u2014 I would say:<\/p>\n \u201cSovereignty is too important a business to be left to the generals.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Bangladesh\u2019s military generals and its political leaders would do well to remember that.<\/p>\n (1 November 2025)<\/p>\n —————-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Commentary Report After the gang-rape of a Marma schoolgirl in Khagrachari on 23 September, when protests began demanding justice, a certain group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts started shouting about \u201csovereignty.\u201d Their cries sounded like: \u201cIt\u2019s all over, sovereignty is gone!\u201d They somehow discovered a \u201cforeign conspiracy\u201d behind the anti-rape movement. But what\u2019s astonishing is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n
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