Michael Chakma is Found

Written by Jerry Allen, Country Coordinator for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

Update on recent events in Bangladesh 

After weeks of protest and violent repression (see previous Blog) student protesters called on people from across Bangladesh to join a “Long March to Dhaka” on 5th August. As thousands marched into the capital, the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country.  The Army announced moves to set up the new government.   

Mohammed Yunus was sworn in as the interim head of state on 8th August.  Amnesty International had previously campaign to stop the Bangladesh Government from harassing and intimidating Yunus.  The 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate but had been forced in exile because he was seen as a threat to Hasina. Mohammad Yunus’ case is emblematic of the beleaguered state of human rights in Bangladesh, where the authorities have eroded freedoms and bulldozed critics into submission.  Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International in September 2023.  Yunus has praised the student protesters and included two of their leaders in his government. 

Several people who had disappeared during the Hasina’s rule have been found, including Supreme Court lawyer Ahmad Bin Kashem Arman, Indigenous rights activist Michael Chakma and Abdullahil Amaan Azmi (suspended army official).  Amnesty previously reported that “hundreds had fallen victim” to enforced disappearance in Bangladesh. 

This seems to be good news, however there are now many reports of violent attacks on minorities (Hindus, indigenous people, etc.). 

On 6th August Amnesty International stated that “Any new Interim Government must prioritize human rights and not repeat mistakes of the past”. It must “protect the most vulnerable”. 

Michael Chakma 

Micheal Chakma was forcibly disappeared in broad daylight in April 2019.  Amnesty posted an Urgent Action in May 2019 to release him. A report on his disappearance in 2019 sated “at least 507 people have been forcibly disappeared between January 2009 and the end of 2018.”  It is difficult to imagine what his life has been like to the last six years. 

Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher Taqbir Huda reported: 

“Disappeared activist Michael Chakma has been found alive.  He had been missing since 2019, and many presumed he might have been dead. 

Michael is an Indigenous rights activist who had been staunchly vocal against abuses committed by the military in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and has campaigned for an end to military rule in the region. 

The previous government repeatedly ignored desperate appeals from his family, as well as inquiries from the Supreme Court, the UN Committee against Torture and INGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  

In January 2020, the police finally stated they “could not find anybody named Michael Chakma in any prisons in Bangladesh.” 

Michael was found in Aynaghor - the state’s secret detention facility. When Netra News first exposed the existence of Aynaghor in 2022, the state vehemently denied it and filed cases against them for “spreading disinformation”.  

The fruits of the student liberation movement are only beginning to be felt. A decade of brute oppression is slowly coming undone.  

We must seize this moment and undo state repression in all its forms: at the top of that list is demilitarising the Chittagong Hill Tracts and implementing the CHT Accord.  

We are not free until the CHT is free.”