MILITARISATION AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE: AN INDIGENOUS WOMAN’S VULNERABILITY IN CHITTAGONG HILL TRACT REGION
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Abstract
The Peace Accord signed on 1997 between Parbatya Chhattragram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and the government of Bangladesh does not guide the society towards sustained peace. The sizable military presence in three districts (Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban) of Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) can be seen as the salient side of the failure of the peace process. The ongoing tussle between Bengali settler community and indigenous people of CHT as well as the security of border region of Bangladesh are the central reasons which justify the presence of Bangladeshi military at CHT. These justifications for military presence prioritize the state-centric conception of national security. Sexual violence is the delineating side of unrest at CHT region even though the peace accord was signed. Indigenous women are living under the constant fear of sexual violence. Why does the sexual violence continue after signing the peace accord? The paper attempts to unfold the possible drivers behind the sexual violence as a part of the larger discourse of political violence between Bangladesh state and the indigenous people of CHT the ongoing instances of violence which marked by sexual violence. The way of inquiry is descriptive in nature. It explored the reports of nongovernmental organisations, international human rights groups, newspaper reporting and other academic contribution. By outlining the possible reasons this paper tries to reach towards the generalisation that, military presence does provide notable grounds for the occurrences of sexual violence in CHT as the marker of ongoing political violence between Bengali settlers and indigenous people.
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