‘In the changed political context, collective punishment of the Bawm community continues’

Lalrithang Bawm, the office secretary of the Bangladesh Student’s Federation (Ganasanhati Andolon) and chairperson of the Bawm Students Association, talks to New Age about his violent encounters with the police during the July mass uprising and the continued sufferings of the Bawm community in post-uprising Bangladesh.

New Age: You were injured during the July Uprising. Please share your experience.

Lalrithang Bawm

Lalrithang bawm: I actively participated in the uprising. On July 19, 2024, I joined the protest at Dhanmondi 27 in the morning. It was the spot where Farhan Faiyaz was martyred just the day before. The police opened fire at us. They fired tear gas and sound grenades. They charged us with batons to disperse us. They kept attacking us so violently that we were forced to turn back towards Mohammadpur. We watched with incredulity how our own police force was indiscriminately opening fire at students and the public. Later in the evening, we regrouped in Mohammadpur. The police charged us again, firing pellets, tear gas and sound grenades at us. It was there, at about 8:30pm, that I was injured with shotgun pellets. I received primary treatment at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital later.

New Age: The slogan ‘The fight will continue, in the hills and the plains’ was repeatedly heard at protests during the uprising. Has the current talk or process of democratic transition the pre-existing gap between the hills and the planland?

Lalrithang Bawm: After the uprising, everyone had renewed hopes for a free, democratic Bangladesh without any discrimination. While people across the plains did graffiti everywhere, expressing that hope and exercising their freedom of expression, we experienced how completely different the reality was in the hills. When we painted our hopes and demanded our rights freely, the army and the BGB stopped us; we were even physically assaulted. The subjects of our graffiti were approved earlier by both the military and the civil administrations. We had to ask for permission before drawing anything.

A graffiti symbolising the social differences and ethnic diversity in Bangladesh became very popular at the time and popped up on walls everywhere. It shows a green sapling with leaves that hold the names of all religious and ethnic groups that exist in our country, with one leaf holding the word ‘indigenous people’. Underneath, it said, ‘Tearing any leaf is forbidden’, which essentially means that the country’s inclusive political aspirations will be thwarted if any of the groups is attacked. This meaningful graffiti, which also embodies the ideals of plurality proposed by the Constitution Reform Commission, was included in a national curriculum textbook. But the government then revised its decision under pressure from certain groups, or for reasons unexplained. When indigenous students and other activists tried to march peacefully towards the National Curriculum and Textbook Board to protest the reversal and demand that it be included, we were brutally attacked. The group that attacked us, Students for Sovereignty, had published multiple aggressive posts on its Facebook page the day before. We were attacked in police presence despite that and we have yet to receive justice. Apart from a couple of ostentatious arrests, most of the perpetrators of the attack are roaming free. In effect, the discrimination between the hills and the plains has, unfortunately, remained business as usual in the post-uprising reality. 

New Age: You are involved with the Bangladesh Students’ Federation (Gansanhati Andolon) as well as the Bawm Student’s Association. You have been working in your capacity as a student coordinator for the release of the innocent Bawm people, including women and children, in jail since April 2024. In spite of their innocence, the Bawm citizens are still imprisoned even after the change of power that had taken place after the July Uprising. Does this action of the state indicate an inclusive future?

Lalrithang Bawm: The government will prevent all reported criminal activities of the Kuki-Chin National Front. That is rightfully expected of the government. Since 2022, however, a policy of collective punishment is being applied in the name of crime deterrence to make the lives of innocent Bawm people in Bandarban a living hell. They have become victims of mass arrests, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances while all sorts of punitive measures have been imposed to disrupt their livelihoods. Many of the community have been forced to migrate to neighbouring India and Myanmar just to avoid such persecution. They have to obtain permission from army officials stationed at nearby camps to sell their own crops in the market; they need permission even to buy groceries and medicine.

What is noteworthy, however, is that the scale and scope of the crackdown have taken a new turn centring on the bank robberies in Ruma and Thanchi in April 2024. Bawm students, pregnant women and children were arbitrarily arrested during the mass raids conducted in the region. Just within three months, in May–July 2025, three Bawm men died in custody. Their families allege that the men did not receive proper medical care while in prison. We know that all custodial deaths have to be investigated in accordance with the law. Has there been any investigation into the deaths of the Bawm men? The responsibility for their death in custody without any trial lies solely with the Bengali state. 

My point is that if anyone in the Bawm community is guilty of criminal activities, they need to be brought to book. But it must happen following due process. There has been no progress in the cases against the Bawm people who have been imprisoned. Even those under trial have basic human rights, which are being violated at every step. Moreover, the law has special provisions with regard to the bail of women and children. But they apparently do not apply to Bawm women. 

Since the July Uprising, a number of known criminals and militants have been released from prisons. There were huge outcries on social media about it, questions and concerns were raised. On the other hand, innocent Bawm women and student continue to languish in jail. I repeat, criminals must be held accountable in the eyes of the law. But the repression against innocent Bawm citizens must stop. As long as the state is deaf to the rights of indigenous people and as long as repression against them is perpetuated, no new political system will ever signal true reform or change.

Interview is taken by Saydia Gulrukh