Chittagong Hill Tracts

Area of southeastern Bangladesh; population (1991) 743,900. There is conflict between Muslim Bengali settlers and the mainly Buddhist indigenous peoples, collectively known as Jumma. Most of the ethnic peoples of Bangladesh (12 linguistic groups) live here. Non-Jumma settlers increased from 6% 1951 to 45% 1983, and thousands of Jumma fled to India. Some 30,000 fled across the border 1986.

The original inhabitants want regional autonomy to preserve their ethnic identity and culture. Some power was devolved to the Hill Tracts from central government 1989. Massacres and human-rights abuses against the Jumma took place in the 1980s and 1990s; over 3,000 have died. Bangladesh deployed more than 300,000 troops here 1990 to suppress Jumma insurgents.