Bay Insight । Cox’s Bazar
Mathingching Tanchangya gave birth to a baby girl last week. But nearly three weeks before the child saw the light of day, her father lost his life.
Mathing’s husband, Shaifuching Tanchangya (32), was killed in a landmine explosion on May 24 while working on jhum cultivation land near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Two others — Okyamong Tanchangya (40), and Chikyong Tanchangya (34) — were also killed in the same incident. All three had gone to tend a banana plantation on the hillside.
To visit the victims’ families, this correspondent traveled last Saturday to Fatrajhiri in Ghumdhum Union of Naikhongchhari Upazila in Bandarban. The remote settlement lacks even mobile phone network coverage. After venturing further into Balukhia Para, Mathing’s home was finally located.
She was found standing in front of a traditional hill hut built on bamboo stilts. Inside, her newborn daughter was asleep in a cradle. When asked about the incident, Mathing began speaking but soon broke down in tears.
“How will I survive with these three children now? What will I do?” she said while crying uncontrollably. She repeatedly questioned why her husband had to lose his life while working on his own jhum land inside Bangladesh.
Unable to continue speaking due to her grief, her neighbour Ulaching stepped in. He said the jhum fields are about a two-hour walk from their village, with the Myanmar border another hour away. Shaifuching and the other two victims had gone there to work on their banana plantation.
According to Ulaching, Shaifuching was critically injured in an initial explosion while working in the plantation. When the others rushed to rescue him, a second blast injured them as well. All three later died at the scene. Villagers recovered the bodies with extreme caution.
A short distance from Mathing’s house stands the home of Okyamong. His eyes wife, Dukh Mala, was busy with household work and declined to speak after learning a journalist had arrived. She said previous media reports had stated that her husband and the others were killed after entering Myanmar, a claim she disputes. She is deeply worried about how she will support her three children.
Ulaching said nearly 400 Tanchangya families in the area have jhum land in regions where landmine explosions have occurred. Since the incidents, fear has prevented many from returning to their fields.
“Almost everyone has loans from NGOs. I have to pay around Tk 6,500 in installments every month. But I am too afraid to go to my banana plantation. The bananas are ripening and rotting in the fields. Our livelihoods are being destroyed,” he said.
He questioned who was planting landmines inside Bangladesh?
Days after the deaths of Shaifuching, Okyamong and Chikyong, another explosion occurred on June 9 in a banana plantation near Rezu Amtoli, also in Ghumdhum Union. Abdul Khalek, a 30-year-old Rohingya labourer, was killed while working there.
Local residents said the explosions occurred well inside Bangladeshi territory, far from the border line, making it difficult to believe that the mines had been planted by the Arakan Army from across the border. Since December 2024, Arakan Army has established control along the other side of the whole 271 kilometres Bangladesh border.
Several residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed they had seen the presence of an armed Rohingya group in the area. They alleged that the group does not want locals entering the area and may have planted the mines for that reason. Residents also claimed that people encountered in the area are sometimes chased away.
If they can catch us, they will kill us in that area, they said.
According to local accounts, two hill residents of the same community disappeared in separate incidents last September and October while tending cattle in the area. They were Waimong Tanchangya of Balukhia Para and Suman Tanchangya of neighboring Rezu Gorjonbunia area.
The wife of Waimong, 55-year-old Usaching, was encountered while transporting jackfruit collected from the hills for sale. She said her husband disappeared seven to eight months ago while grazing cattle and never returned. Villagers later found signs suggesting he had been dragged away. Suman also remains missing since then, locals said.
Former Ghumdhum Union Parishad member Babul Kanti Chakma said Waimong disappeared during the third week of September last year, while Suman went missing on October 8. Fear has gripped local residents for the past seven to eight months, discouraging many from visiting their jhum fields.
He confirmed that the families filed general diaries with Naikhongchhari Police Station regarding the disappearances.
Mozammel Haque, Investigation Officer at Naikhongchhari Police Station, said both disappearance cases remain under investigation. The deep jungle terrain has slowed progress, he added.
He said police recovered the bodies after being informed of the landmine blast that killed the three men and completed the necessary legal procedures. He added that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been conducting public awareness campaigns in the area and that police have requested BGB to carry out mine swiping operations using modern equipment.
Regarding the recent landmine explosions inside Bangladesh, Lieutenant Colonel SM Khairul Alam, commanding officer of BGB Battalion 34, said preliminary assessments suggest that during clashes and pursuits between Myanmar’s military junta and the Arakan Army, members of both sides occasionally crossed into Bangladeshi territory and may have
planted or left behind mines.
However, he emphasized that this is not a final conclusion and that investigations are ongoing.
He said BGB has already been distributing leaflets and conducting awareness campaigns door-to-door, urging residents to immediately report any suspicious objects or activities.
Explaining the border terrain, Lt Col Khairul said the zero line is often difficult to identify in hilly areas where jhum cultivation takes place. He noted that one recent explosion occurred about 20 yards inside Myanmar territory.
“In the hills, it is often difficult to determine whether someone is standing in Bangladesh or Myanmar,” he said, adding that residents are being advised to avoid areas close to the zero line to prevent confusion and danger.
According to BGB, local authorities and border residents, at least 10 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in landmine and unexploded ordnance blasts along the Naikhongchhari border between late 2024 and June this year.
The victims include Bangladeshi farmers, hill workers, Rohingya refugees, woodcutters and even BGB personnel. While deaths from mine explosions previously occurred across the border, recent incidents inside Bangladeshi territory have heightened fear among border communities.