On April 17, at least four people were killed, more than 20 others injured during a violent clash between indigenous hill people and Bengali settlers at Shankholapara of Ramgarh area in Khagrachhari. Around 60 houses of ethnic minority people were burnt. The violence reportedly flared up when the settlers began clearing 50 acres of forest on a hillock that originally belongs to the Marma tribal people.

According to the Daily Star, the tribals initiated the attack with knives and machetes to take control over the disputed land ploughed by settlers. The incident ensued by a string of clashes in Ramgarh and Manikchhari in the CHTs.

The land dispute between indigenous people, mostly Buddhists and Bengali (Muslims) settlers is not new to the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In February last year, a similar incident forced government to deploy troops in the south-eastern Khagrachhari district (Chittagong Hill Tracts) after violent clashes between ethnic tribal people and Bengali settlers left at least 15 people injured and several houses torched.

Sporadic violence broke out in April 2008 when hundreds of settlers reportedly backed by Bangladeshi soldiers launched preemptive attacks on seven Jumma villages in the Sajek Union of Rangamati district, turning the hill town into a battlefield.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts covers areas comprising the Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban districts of Bangladesh and is flanked by two international borders, on the southeast by Myanmar and on the north by India. The region is heavily populated by Jumma and other indigenous tribes, including the Chakmas, Marmas, Garos, Mizos and Tripuris.

The region was plagued by decades of armed insurgency which formally ended in 1997 followed by a peace accord inked between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS), a political platform of the tribal people which spearheaded the movement, along with its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini (SB). According to the agreement, the government has to hand over control of administration and the three hill district councils to the CHT Regional Council, followed by a phased withdrawal of the army from the CHT.

This new wave of violence indicates that there is urgency for Bangladesh government to address land rights and settlement issues in CHTs. There should be a well represented political mechanism that can see the full implementation of the peace accord which has been a necessary precondition to all round development of the region, facilitate settlements of all vexed issues and last but not the least, spur peaceful co existence between the indigenous communities and the Bengali settlers.