02 March 2010
Posted in
General
CHT prides itself on its rich ethnic diversity. It is home to as many as 15 ethnic groups, including the Bengalis. The indigenous population of the region constitutes of the following ethnic groups;
1) Chakma
2) Marma
3) Tripura
4) Mro
5) Bawm
6) Khyang
7) Tanchangya
8) Pankho
9) Lushai
10) Chak
11) Khumi
In addition, there are 3 other ethnic groups; 1) Gurkha, 3) Asam and 3) Rakhain who settled in the region during the British colonial period from other parts of the erstwhile British India.
The total population of the region is about 1.4 million, almost equally distributed between the majority Bengalis and the ethnic indigenous peoples. The Chakmas are the largest ethnic group, followed with the Marmas and the Tripuras. These three groups together constitute roughly 80% of the total indigenous population, with the Chakmas alone making roughly 50%.
All the indigenous groups are non-Muslims, a clear difference of the majority Bengalis, majority of whom follow Islam. Religion wise, the indigenous groups are; Chakma, Tanchangya, Marma, Khyang and Chak (Buddhism); Tripura (Hinduism); Lushai, Pankho and Bawm (Christianity). The Mros and Khumis traditionally used to follow Buddhism, mixed with animistic beliefs. Subsequently, since mid-1980s, they started to follow a new religion called ‘Krama’. But in recent years, many of them have been converting to various Christian denominations. This is also equally true for a large section of the Tripura and the Khyang peoples.
The evolution of the demographic situation of the region has a historical pattern. The region was given to the erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) during the 1947 partition, despite being overwhelmingly non-Muslim (to the order of 97%). During the entire Pakistan period in-migration from the plain areas continued, albeit in a constrained manner, but nevertheless making the Bengalis about 20% of the total population at the time of the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. However, it is during the Bangladesh period, more specifically during the 1976-86 that saw a dramatic demographic shift against the indigenous peoples when the Government reportedly sponsored a programme of rehabilitating about 300,000 Bengalis inside CHT from the different parts of the country. This government sponsored settlement programme gave the Bengalis an overnight numerical superiority in the region and in 1991 census, they were 49% of the total population. The subsequent censuses never published ethnically dis-aggregated data, but now it is generally agreed that the Bengalis constitute the majority in the CHT (for more, see in the section below, particularly the Pakistan and Bangladesh period).
Source: IWGIA
Comments