British and Islamic collusion in the Chittagong Hill Tracts against Buddhism: Myanmar and Hinduism
Sawako Utsumi and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The reality of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh where Buddhists are increasingly marginalized based on endless Bengali Muslim settlements, is a fear held within certain Buddhist circles who worry about Islamization in parts of Myanmar. Indeed, the Buddhist and tribal majority in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is being supplanted rapidly. Of course, for Buddhists and Hindus, they only have to look at the reality of modern-day Pakistan and what happened after many Islamic invasions of Afghanistan. Therefore, the British and Islamic role in cutting up mother India, the murky reality of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, the British policy of settling mainly Bengali Muslim immigrants to Myanmar (Burma), and the silence of successive British governments to the erosion of Hinduism in Bangladesh and Pakistan is all too clear.
Hence, the twin evils that erased so much of indigenous Buddhist and Hindu culture throughout swathes of South Asia applies to countless Islamic invasions and the role of the British Empire. One brutal force emanated from the call of Mecca based on Islamic jihad against non-Abrahamic faiths that led to slavery, forced conversions, dhimmitude, the destruction of vast numbers of Buddhist and Hindu holy places, erosion of indigenous culture, and a host of other brutal tragedies that altered the landscape forever. This was followed by British colonialism that ultimately fulfilled the Islamist dream of cutting up mother India with the upshot being – in demographic terms – a complete disaster for Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan based on massacres, cleansing, and erasing indigenous Hindu culture.
Refocusing back on the Chittagong Hill Tracts then the role of the British in laying down the foundation of the destruction of mainly Buddhist indigenous groups, is equally alarming. Especially in view of Buddhists in Myanmar opposed to the impact of Bengali Muslim immigration that also took place in the British colonial period. In other words, the endless joint Islamic and British collusion of ripping the heart out of indigenous faiths is ongoing. Also, the British media and Muslim media plays the “quietist media agenda” when Buddhists and Hindus face the wrath of Islamization – but, when Muslims are deemed victims then the same media forces spread enormous propaganda and ply the notion of “Islamophobia” that emboldens Islamist terrorism. This reality can be seen in the anti-Myanmar agenda where the Islamist terrorist angle is being ignored, along with Bengali Muslim migrants flooding the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and parts of Myanmar. All this is happening based on the historical policies of the British Empire and the Islamist dream of erasing non-Abrahamic faiths to the margins of society.
The British betrayal of the mainly indigenous Buddhists of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is witnessed by the partition of India. Now, suddenly, the British forced the mainly Buddhists of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to become part of Muslim dominated Pakistan. In time, convulsions would develop based on Bangladesh becoming independent after a brutal war with Pakistan. Yet, Bangladesh, just like Pakistan, equally cared little about the mainly indigenous Buddhists. Hence, within a few years of 1971 Bengali Muslim migration had altered the religious and cultural landscape of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Of course, the British knew full well that Buddhism and Hinduism – just like Nestorianism and Zoroastrianism in past history – would face a horrendous fate based on the Islamization of areas cut out of mother India. Equally, the British fully understood the reality of Islamic Sharia law and that non-Muslims would face institutional discrimination based on 1,300 years of Islamic history that took the sword to Buddhists and Hindus. Despite this, the British suddenly turned the mainly Buddhists of the Chittagong Hill Tracts – and the Hindus of Bangladesh and Pakistan – over to a faith that had devastated the Indian subcontinent and further afield in Asia.
Not surprisingly, some militant Buddhist clerics in Myanmar fear how Bengali Muslim migration altered the dynamics of the Chittagong Hill Tracts so rapidly. Likewise, after several Islamic invasions of Afghanistan turned Buddhism and Hinduism to rubble – even to the point where even ancient architecture comes under attack in modern times – then the cutting up of mother India by the intrigues of the British and the Islamic agenda could be replicated in parts of Myanmar.
Modern Tokyo Times reported, “In recent history, the Muslim percentage in India is relatively buoyant in percentage terms. This is in stark contrast to the utter demise of Hinduism in modern-day Pakistan. Likewise, the Hindu percentage in Bangladesh is in free fall. Therefore, the fear of militant Buddhists in parts of Myanmar is based on the historical reality of past Islamic invasions throughout vast swathes of Asia. Equally important, Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in modern Bangladesh – and members of the same faith group in Southern Thailand – have witnessed the Islamist sword and demographic reality in recent times. Also, the British colonial legacy of cutting up “mother India” and creating two mainly Muslims nations from India along with the British altering the religious dynamics in parts of Myanmar remains vivid.”
Like usual, an over simplified international mass media is ramping up anti-Myanmar and anti-Buddhist sentiments. This is happening despite the brutal legacy of countless Muslims invasions; the barbaric legacy of British colonialism; the erosion and demise of Buddhism and Hinduism in history and continuing in nations created out of mother India; and the fact that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Myanmar is butchering Buddhists, Buddhist tribal groups including the Mro, and targeting Hindus. Overall, some Buddhists in Myanmar look into the mirror of history – and the mass Bengali Muslim migration of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the role of the British – and they see the reality of the demise of Buddhism and Hinduism in large swathes of Asia.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
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