Kalpana Chakma', it's not just a name to the indigenous people of Bangladesh. It's a symbol of courage, it's an image of incessant struggle for human rights and above all, it's a failure of Bangladesh government.
Today marks 25 years of her abduction and still no one has been brought to justice for her forceful disappearance. Her family knows no more about what happened to her now than they did 25 years ago.
Who is Kalpana Chakma?
Kalpana Chakma was the organising secretary of "Hills women's Federation". She was a fearless women rights activist in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh exposing the plight of indigenous women who were routinely being tortured, raped, discriminated against. Kalpana had been vehemently criticizing the harassments on the indigenous women and protesting against the atrocities and repressions perpetrated by "Bengali settlers and Bangladesh army" taking place in the hill districts.
What made her a target for abduction?
Kalpana was a strong-willed, politically aware young woman, someone who could not be shut up by threats alone and was becoming an ascendant young, woman leader that indigenous people needed.
She had been working for the emancipation of the indigenous women from becoming victims of the Bangladesh army's lustful flame by organising conferences, seminars and meetings to raise awareness and spread courage to struggle among the people in various parts of the CHT. In the general parliamentary elections of Bangladesh, held on 12 June 1996, Kalpana was campaigning for independent candidate Pahari Gana Parishad senior presidium member Bijoy Ketan Chakma, who was supported by all hill peoples’ organisations. All these activities to make her own community survive turned her into the direct target of the Bangladesh Army.
Who abducted Kalpana?
According to angelfire.com, on 12 June, at 12 am, just 6 hours ahead of the general election of Bangladesh when Kalpana Chakma was abducted by the members of the Bangladesh Army from her home at Lallyaghona village of the CHT. An army Lieutenant named Ferdous with his 11 soldiers from the nearby Kojoichhari army barrack raided Kalpana Chakma's home at that night and picked her up forcibly. Her 60 year-old mother Badhuni Chakma told reporters -
"We were asleep when someone called out from outside and wanted to know who were inside the house. Then they pulled down the latch of the door from outside and entered the house. They kept powerful torchlight on our face and took away my younger son Khudiram saying that his 'Sir' (Lieut. Ferdous) wanted to talk to him. Few minutes later they took away my elder son Kalicharan and my daughter Kalpana leaving behind myself and Kalicharan's wife."
Kalicharan Chakma, a farmer and bread winner of the family said that three were blindfolded and tied by the hands near the well of the house and were asked to sit down. Kalicharan said -
"Some were wearing army fatigues and some had lungis tied up to their waists. They first took Khudiram from us. They were speaking in Bengali."
Khudiram Chakma, brother of Kalpana Chakma described how he escaped-
"I was asked to dip into the water near the well. As soon as I did so, someone shouted 'shoot him'. Sensing imminent death I somehow untied my hand, removed blindfold around my eyes and started running in the waist deep water. I could hear one gunshot behind me but I kept running."
Kalicharan said that after they led Khudiram away, Kalpana was taken away from his side.
"On hearing the gunshot and the shoutings few yards away I untied my hand, removed the fold around my eyes and jumped into the water, they shot at me once and as I ran I could hear Kalpana cry out Dada, Dada, mahre baja (brother, brother, rescue me)."
The whereabouts of the prime accused still remains unknown
After a few days of the incident, Kalpana's elder filed a case as an eye witness to the abduction. The prime accused were Lieutenant Ferdous Kaysar Khan, Village Defence Party member Nurul Huq and police constable Saleh Ahmed.
After 25 long years, the case has not yet been ready for trial because a credible investigation has not been conducted. The government hasn’t made sincere efforts to judiciously resolve the case.
Her family has raised concern about the sincerity of the police saying that they have interrogated the complainant, leaving the accused outside the purview of their investigation.
The propensity to sidestep the due legal process is evidenced in every step even from the recording of the first information report to the long-drawn investigation process. In 1996, the Baghaichari police registered the abduction case dropping the names of the accused that Kalpana’s brother mentioned. In 2016, the Criminal Investigation Department concluded that she was abducted but as she herself was witness to her abduction, no progress can be made until her return and the prosecution sought the closure of the case.
Kalpana, beyond her identity of an ethnic minority leader, has become an icon of protest to all women. Failure of bringing justice to her family means failure of the state. Forgetting her abduction means forgetting the struggles indigenous men and women went and are going through and fostering the repression that's going on in the CHT.
Written by Neeti Chakma
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