Attacks took place, as well as misinformation and disinformation spread during violence that broke out in Khagrachhari and Rangamati, leaving five people including Bengalese dead on 18 and 19 September.
But disinformation was spread from several Facebook pages, X (formerly Twitter) handles and YouTube channels claiming a higher number of deaths with some even saying death tolls crossed 100.
Fact-check organisation dismislab revealed this in a report titled “From four to a hundred: The politics of disinformation in the Hill Tracts conflict”.
According to the report, persons involved in spreading disinformation claimed to be Bangladeshis, as well as disinformation was spread from several online portals and social media profiles based in the North-Eastern region of India.
A Bengali youth, Md Mamun, was beaten to death on allegation of stealing a motorcycle in Dighinala of Khagrachhari on 18 September.
The incident triggered spates of clashes between Bengalis and hill people on the following day that killed an ethnic minority, Dhananjay Chakma.
Firings took place at Rangamati Sadar at night as well that left three hill people dead.
Facebook page, RC’s World, run by someone based in France according to page transparency information, wrote, “At least 35 people of small ethnic communities were killed in the attack of the Bangladesh army in the hill tracts”
A press note of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on 20 September that terrorists of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) opened fire on an army patrol team for the Khagrachhari zone as the team arrived in the Swanirvar area while transporting a patient with critical condition.
The army retaliated with fire in self-defence and three people were killed and several injured in the firing, it added.
According to the dismislab report, clashes at Dighinala started at 10:30 pm on 19 September, but Facebook page, Jummo, claimed within two and a half hours at 12:54 am on 11 September that 32 people already died.
On that day, another Facebook page, RC’s World, run by someone based in France according to page transparency information, wrote, “At least 35 people of small ethnic communities were killed in the attack of the Bangladesh army in the hill tracts”.
I don’t think those rumours are the sole reasons for spreading of violence. We would long be terrified when something happened to Bengalis in the hills. Actually, one incident of violence unfolded another big incident. Culture of impunity is the reason for itNirupa Chowdhury Dewan, former member of NHRC
The post contained a video clip and still images showing several people, but there was no image of any dead persons.
Fact checking site dismislab said the Facebook page ‘Jummo’ was created on 18 September, a day before the incident unfolded. The image used in the ID of the page is in fact the logo of Tripura-based online media The Jummo Times.
dismislab quotes Rangamati’s additional superintendent of police Shanewaz Raju as saying the death toll is entirely baseless and such type of information further escalated instability in the hill tracts.
An Indian influencer, Rupam, shared a video titled “More Than 100 People Killed, Brutally Attacked by Bangladeshi Muslims; Bangladesh is Next Afghanistan” on “Rupam The Explorer page”. The video garnered over 300 comments and 30,000 shares.
dismislab said several Facebook pages and X handles including Hill Blood, Baba Benarosh, and Voice of Bangladeshi Hindus propagated the incorrect death toll.
The number of deaths caused by violence in the hill tracts was also mentioned incorrectly during the protest in the Indian state of Tripura and the country’s known media published reports on it.
dismislab report also quoted Pahari Chattra Parishad (PCP) or Hill Students Council president Aungkon Chakma as saying that the death toll was exaggerated by false information and that spread fear in the hills.
Politics of misinformation
Regional leaders of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also used the incorrect number of deaths in some cases. It was also used in the political campaign of the leaders and activists of the recently ousted Awami League.
The BJP Mizoram CADC Committee and the Tripura State Level Chakma Youth Organization separately submitted the memorandum over violence in Bangladesh to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
The memorandum stated the army and illegal Bengali settlers were carrying out attacks in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. At least nine people of small ethnic minority communities were killed in Khagrachhari.
Supporters of those organisations called the events genocide and ethnic cleansing on various Facebook pages and X handles, as well as sought the interference of the UN and the US.
Regarding this, former member of National Human Rights Commission Nirupa Chowdhury Dewan told Prothom Alo, “I don’t think those rumours are the sole reasons for spreading of violence. We would long be terrified when something happened to Bengalis in the hills. Actually, one incident of violence unfolded another big incident. Culture of impunity is the reason for it.”
Cases were filed in the hills, but none receive punishment but if the administration does its duty it would not happen, she added.