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The only possible solution is for the majority - that is, our elite - to renounce nationalism, which is a piece of fiction anyway. The Chakma people I spoke to are happy with the description that "we are all Bangladeshis" and reject the formulation "We are all Bengalis" - which started the trouble in the first place.
However, the genesis of Chakma nationalism - I hesitate to call it Jumma nationalism (Jumma is the collective term for the hill people) - is quite irrational. The Chakmas are the only tribal people in Bangladesh to have felt threatened by Bengali nationalism. There are other indigenous people in other parts of the country - the Santals and Garos, for instance - who have had no nationalist aspirations or fears of the majority. The obvious answer seems to be the fact that the Chakmas are highly educated - more so than the average Bengali. The idea of nationalism was an infection caught by an educated elite, fearful of what majority rule might mean in a democracy. (Under military rule, when Bangladesh was East Pakistan , there was no trouble in the Hill Tracts.) It is interesting to note that similar fears led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947.
Moreover, the language of the Chakmas is a variant of Bengali - in fact, it is a Bengali dialect closely related to the dialect used by Bengalis in the nearby city of Chittagong . So, when Sheikh Mujib, the first prime minister, told them "We are all Bengalis now", he wasn't completely wrong as far as the Chakmas were concerned. In addition, the eleven tribes are mutually incomprehensible to each other. The majority are Buddhists, but there are Hindus, Christians and animists.
Again, the country has a Buddhist minority spread throughout who have never felt threatened by Bengali nationalism.
The Buddhists who fled from Burma in the late 18th and early 19th centuries settled in the hill tracts - they are the Jumma people -- and the south-east of the country. In the latter region, the Rakhine community have shown no tendency towards autonomy.
Also, the Jumma people are very fond of the original settlers - those who came before 1980. In fact, according to my Chakma sources, when the Kaptai Dam was built in Rangamati, more Bengali settlers were displaced than tribal people. The two groups have forged fraternal bonds - and are equally intimidated by the army. (Westerners think that only tribal people were displaced - this is a misguided attempt to locate victim-hood where it doesn't belong.)
It is, therefore, futile to look for "rational" reasons behind the two nationalisms. Nationalism is inherently irrational. For instance, the very education that the Chakmas received - there are quotas for all tribes in every government institution, including the cadet colleges and the army -- made them more self-aware. That's ironic.
Again, the hill people refuse to take their grievances over land to the Supreme Court - where they are bound to win. Appealing to the Supreme Court, no doubt, would violate their sense of collective identity, for it would be recognition of the sovereignty of the Court (they want the Land Commission to be the last authority, remember?). They have, instead, chosen the path of violence.
Furthermore, there is no 'land problem'. The population density of the hill tracts is one-tenth that of the rest of Bangladesh . I saw tin-roofed houses on hills separated by hundreds of yards of forest. There is enough land for everyone, and more. Several kilometers from Panchari lies an impressive Buddhist khyang (monastery). The tallest statue of Buddha is situated there. The grounds of the monastery cover an incredible 50 acres. The fictitious land problem is a convenient garb for nationalism.
Clouds above Khagrachari town by Iftekhar Sayeed
Khagrachari is also a place of breathtaking beauty. From my hotel verandah, I have a view of the hills to the west and the plains to the east - and between them the shallow silver of the Chengi river curves, recurves and curves again past the hotel and under the steel bridge. You can see the tough Tripura girls at work under the blistering sun; then taking a bath in the Chengi river dressed in their bright thabin and angi. You couldn't imagine a more peaceful place - or a less peaceful place. When reading Horace in the verandah, I came across the lines 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" -and realized once again the awful truth of Wilfred Owen's observation that it was "the old lie".
What has nationalism - that Franco-German curse - done to these simple people!
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