Dhaka: The human rights situation in Bangladesh’s Chattogram Hill Tracts worsened in 2025 as the government did not implement the 1997 CHT Peace Accord, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) revealed in its Annual Human Rights Report 2025, local media reported on Friday.
According to the report, no meaningful progress in implementing the accord was made under the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus. Nearly two-thirds of the accord, including its core provisions, have not been implemented even after 28 years, leading to increased militarisation, communal violence, land grabbing and widespread abuses against the indigenous Jumma people, leading Bangladeshi daily ‘The Daily Star’ reported.
As many as 268 incidents of human rights violations were recorded by PCJSS in 2025, impacting 606 Jumma people. According to the report, security forces, police, Bangalee settlers, extremist groups, land grabbers and Rohingya armed groups were identified as perpetrators.
The report revealed that eight extrajudicial killings, 193 search operations, 117 arbitrary arrests were made in villages and 26 incidents of violence were reported against women and children. The PCJSS requested the Yunus administration to immediately implement the 1997 CHT Peace Accord, end extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests, resolve land disputes and ensure justice for victims of communal and sexual violence.
The report revealed that at least 43 homes and two Buddhist temples were searched and vandalised. According to the report, over 300 acres of land were illegally occupied in 2025. The most serious incidents documented in the report was the killing of three Marma youths in Khagrachhari’s Guimara in September, as they were shot while holding protest against the rape of a Marma schoolgirl.
Earlier in December, a leading human rights organisation in Bangladesh highlighted widespread rights abuses across the country, including mob violence, extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, minority persecution, killings in political violence, and suppression of press freedom. In its latest report, Dhaka-based Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) revealed that “mob terrorism” has increased at an alarming rate throughout 2025.
As per the findings, mob violence claimed 197 lives from January to December in comparison to 128 deaths last year. Since the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government assumed office in 2024, the report said, at least 293 people have been killed in mob violence.
“People have been beaten and killed without any evidence, investigation or legal process, by creating suspicion and rumours. In the name of the Tawheed Janata, mobs have been illegally formed to vandalise art and cultural centres, attack the Baul community — and even burn bodies from graves. There have been incidents of harassment of people of opposing views, including freedom fighters,” Bengali daily Prothom Alo quoted the rights body as saying.
According to the statement, in many of these incidents, the law enforcement agencies failed to act, and efforts to bring perpetrators to justice were largely absent.
The report said that at least 107 people died in various prisons across the country in 2025, including 69 inmates and 38 prisoners. Among the prisons across the country, Dhaka Central Jail recorded the highest number of deaths with 38, followed by Gazipur with 7, while the remaining fatalities occurred in other prisons across the country.
Additionally, at least 38 people were killed in extrajudicial killings in 2025, as reported by the monitoring of the Information Protection Unit of ASK.
These deaths, the rights body said, occurred in the custody of law enforcement agencies, under torture, in the name of alleged ‘shootouts’ or ‘gunfights’ — reflecting an ongoing human rights crisis.
ASK revealed that between January and December 2025, Bangladesh witnessed at least 401 incidents of political violence, claiming 102 lives and injuring 4,744 people.
The report further stated that at least 381 journalists faced torture and harassment during the same period, with 23 journalists targeted by law enforcement agencies and 20 receiving death threats.
Highlighting the atrocities on minorities across Bangladesh, especially Hindus, ASK documented several violent incidents, including attacks, intimidation, looting, arson and vandalism of idols between January and December 2025.
Bangladesh has been gripped by escalating human rights abuses and persistent attacks on minorities, particularly the Hindu community, under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
(IANS)
