Wednesday, June 3, 2020

A Budhist King of Pakistan

Pakistan is not known for affirmative action or even equitable action for its minorities. In fact, there are certain Muslim sects who are not considered Muslims adequately and face persecution (Ahmadiyas and Qadianis for example). With that as a context, how would you react if I tell you a Buddhist was offered Presidency of Pakistan? Well, here’s the story.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, which border Tripura and Mizoram, was inhabited primarily by a number of agrarian tribes. Most dominant among these tribes are the Chakmas who follow Theravada Buddhism and have residual animistic beliefs. They claim to be descendants of the Buddha and are said to have migrated from Magadh. The claim does appear credible as the Chakma language is Indo-Aryan in character prevalent in Gangetic plains and differs from the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in North-East India.

The Chakmas have various clans and are presided by a Raja, who managed to have a fair degree of autonomy during the Mughal and British rule in lieu of tribute (mostly cotton produce). They did not retain sovereignty in the modern sense of the term but were more of tributaries than subjects as there was no interference in their internal arrangements.

Among the many contestable decisions of the Radcliffe Boundary Commission was the allocation of Chakmas to Pakistan, a tributary which had 97% non-Muslim population. The decision was protested but there were bigger battles to fight related to “more important” princely states like Kashmir, Hyderabad, Junagarh etc. and nothing much was done about it.

Raja Nalinaksha Roy was the Chakma king and he was left with no choice but to accept Pakistani sovereignty. He did manage to wrest some functional autonomy though. He was married to Benita Sen, the grand-daughter of Brahmo Samaj Keshub Chandra Sen. Post his death, his eldest son Tridev Roy became the 50th Chakma king in 1953.

Chakmas had to contend with a twin layered discrimination – one within East Pakistan and the larger discrimination that East Pakistan was facing from West Pakistan. This combined with the submergence of their villages on account of Kaptai Dam construction triggered a massive migration to Assam and is a friction point in the North-East till day. The Chakma Raja was aware of his precarious position in the overall set up and remained largely neutral. Gradually he started leaning towards West Pakistan, a move that defined the rest of his life.

In the 60s, Bangladeshi nationalism was on the rise in East Pakistan under the leadership of Mujib-ur-Rehman. For the 1970 elections, Mujib even offered the Raja an Awami League ticket, which the Raja declined and chose to contest as an independent. The League won all but two of the 169 seats in East Pakistan (one of them being the Raja) and became the biggest political party in undivided Pakistan. The Raja found himself on a sticky wicket and instead of mending fences with Mujib, he openly sided with Pakistan.

Despite the tally, Yahya Khan invited Bhutto (who had fewer seats than Mujib) to form the next government and that precipitated the eventual secession of East Pakistan and Bangladesh came into being in 1971. Sensing trouble, Raja Tridev abdicated and installed his 12-year-old son on the Chakma throne and fled to Pakistan. Since he was a prize catch, he was made Federal Minister for life by Bhutto, starting with Ministry for Minority Affairs and Tourism.

When Bangladesh applied for UN membership, Pakistan decided to oppose it. Bhutto chose the Chakma Raja Tridev Roy to lead the Pakistani delegation and in an interesting political riposte, Mujib chose none other than the Chakma Rajmata Benita Roy, who had stayed back in Bangladesh, to lead the Bangladeshi campaign. Mother and son were on opposite sides of the negotiation table. No one knows what transpired between them but eventually, Bangladesh was admitted to the UN in 1973.
Despite the setback, Bhutto stayed invested in the Raja and considered him to be a useful figure to be used in future tussles with the seceded part. He even offered the Presidency of Pakistan to the Raja. The catch was that the Raja had to convert to Islam as the Pakistani constitution cannot have a non-Muslim as its president. The Raja sahib declined the offer.

The incident didn’t sour the relationship between the two until Bhutto’s hanging in 1977. Zia-ul-Haq went after Bhutto’s loyalist but he couldn’t harm the Raja Sahib. But he managed to get the Raja out from the political scene in Pakistan and appointed him an ambassador of far-flung Latin American countries Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay where he remained till Zia’s death in a plane crash in 1988. After Zia’s death, Raja Tridev was appointed ambassador to a Theravada majority country Sri Lanka, a post which he discharged till 1995. He retired to his Islamabad home named “Chakma House” in 1995 and returned to Pakistan where he spent time on religious pursuits and was the president of Pakistan Buddhist Society.

The Buddhist King who gave up his throne and refused the presidency of an Islamic country, passed away alone and unnoticed in September 2012.

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