Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Chittagong Hill Tract, Peoples of the

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) constitute a geographically mountainous region in eastern Bangladesh, comprising approximately 5,000 square miles, or roughly 10 percent of the country's total land area. Originally populated by thirteen independent, indigenous groups, each with a distinct culture and language, the CHT strategically borders India, Burma, and the Bay of Bengal. The combined indigenous tribal population, currently estimated at 500,000, constitutes less than one percent of Bangladesh's total population. Historically organized into kinship groups who held their land in common, the CHT peoples employed a swidden, or slash-and-burn agricultural practice that required frequent moves to rotate their rice and other crops.

The Bengalis, a predominately Islamic people speaking an Indo-European language, inhabit the plains adjacent to the CHT. Their south Asian culture contrasts with that of the indigenous hill tribes, who,...