Understanding Indigenous people's issues in Bangladesh Vidya Bhushan Rawat In Conversation with Chakma MK from CHT, Bangladesh (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rights of the Indigenous People in the CHT Area.pdf
Created only for academic thesis purpose
Particularly, the land rights as well as other human rights of the indigenous people of Bangladesh have been denied. No government has properly acknowledged these rights of the indigenous peoples in this country. This paper explores the struggle of indigenous people for their ethnic identity and conflict with Bangladesh government. The indigenous community was persecuted and deprived of human rights, basic needs from the British colonial periods. Internal displacement of aboriginals was started by the Pakistan government and continued till 1997.Land grabbing, Bengali settlement, internal displacements, ethnic non recognition in constitution of country, militarization of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and others issues made the indigenous people revolutionary and ultimately force them to demand autonomy of CHT. The conflicts between indigenous peoples and government came to end after signing Peace Accord of CHT in 1997 but non implementation of this incites the conflicts again what is being continued till now. Indigenous people need political access to fight for their rights and to hold their governments accountable. The key to stimulating the struggle for human rights of the indigenous people lie in their greater political inclusion. Discrimination is widespread in the behavior of public officials both at the national and local level and in the attitude of political parties. The government‘s attitude, too, towards indigenous people reflects their hegemonic and discriminatory views. ―The Govt. is making a serious effort to implement the CHT Peace Accord and the work in this regard is processing quickly.‖ Additional Secretary (administration) of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affair‘s Rama Rani Roy said ―It is this ministry`s sole purpose to establish a peaceful environment in the hill tract districts. Among 72 Articles, 48 were fully and another 15 were partially implemented, and the realization of nine more Articles is in pipeline. PCJSS published its report to mark the 20-years anniversary of the signing of CHT peace treaty in Khagracchari on December 2, 1997. The report said the very first Article of the CHT Peace Accord prioritizes the preservation of the characteristics of the Hill tracts region, the formulation of a committee for implementing the peace treaty. MP kujendra Lal Tripura said ―CHT land disputes resolution commission already started its activities aiming resolve the land disputes. He added that they would be able to establish permanent peace in CHT by resolving the land disputes and thus by the fullest implementation of the treaty. The Govt. of Bangladesh needs to implement the accord fully, and all promised institutions should be established and function properly. It is true that the accord was able to bring peace in hill tracts for some time, but without these elements of comprehensive solution, the prospect for regional security, stability, and trust between the settlers and the indigenous people will remain distant, and there will never be an end to the violent conflicts in the CHT. It`s time to end the waiting and implement the unimplemented conditions of the accord.
The Struggle continued in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are an area within the Chittagong Division in the southeastern part of Bangladesh, bordering India any Myanmar (Burma), comprises a total area of 5,093 sqm. Miles with around 1.6 million populations (as per census 2011) and they formed a single district until 1984. From the time immemorial, CHT had been the peaceful abode to the indigenous peoples, namely, Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mro, Bawm, Pangkhu, Khyang, Khumi, Chak, Lushai, Tanchangya. They collectively identify themselves as the Jumma people (High Landers). Besides, a very small number of descendants of Assames, Gorkha and Santals also live in there. They are distinct and different from the majority Bengali people of Bangladesh in respects of race, language, culture, heritage and religion. Historically, the CHT had largely been a self‐governed independent territory and totally excluded area until 1860. In 1900, the British enacted the Regulation 1 of the 1900 CHT Act, also known as British Manual Act in order to protect the indigenous Jumma people from economic exploitation of Bengali Muslims and to preserve their traditional, social, cultural and political institutions based on customary laws, common ownership of land and so on. Throughout the British colonial period, the 1900 CHT Act functioned as a safeguard for the indigenous people, prohibited land ownership and migrations of Bengali Muslims in the CHT which mean that people from the plains were barred from settling there. We might say the indigenous Jumma peoples of CHT have had enjoyed the absolute freedom of life in that period.
Ethnic Problems in Bangladesh: A Study of Chittagong Hill Tracts
Chittagong Hill Tracts problem is a national integration problem from the inception of Bangladesh. In fact, this area is an isolated region of Bangladesh. From the very beginning, the people of this region had to face different types of crucial problems. Ethnicity or Adibashi, Bengali or Bangladeshi, was the first step in this respect. Settlement of Bengali in tribal areas was another problem. In an incidental manner national integration is to be considered the precondition of a strong nation. Without overcoming the nation building problem, overall development of the state is almost impossible. Analyzing this problem, knowing the history of problem as well as to know the present condition are the main objectives of this study.
Why the Indigenous Jumma peoples took arms in CHT
During the 1971 liberation period around 300,000 Bangladeshi women were raped, tortured, murdered and sexually harassed by the Pakistani occupation army with the support of Bihari and Razakar militias. And after nine months of war of independence with Pakistan, Bangladesh emerged as an independent state on 16 December 1971. Soon after the Pakistani army withdrew from Bangladesh, the Mukti Bahini (liberation forces of Bangladesh) went on rampage against the indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). On 15 February 1972, a delegation of the indigenous people led by M.N. Larma, called on Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and submitted a written memorandum with 4 point charter of demands consisting of-
AN ABC OF CHITTAGONG HIL TRACTS(CHT) PEACE PROCESS
The decades old struggle for autonomy of the Jumma peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh came to an end with the signing on 2nd December 1997 of a peace accord between the government of Bangladesh (GOB) and the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhiti Samiti (PCJSS). The armed members of the PCJSS deposited their arms and returned to normal life and the accord has been internationally recognized as a successful case of conflict resolution; although it involved no third-party mediations or direct interventions by international actors, nor was civil society incorporated within the peace process. However, doubts are increasing about the government’s implementation of the accord in view of the protracted delays and its diluted enactment, especially in the case of provisions relating to the transfer of administrative responsibility to the Regional Council and the functioning of the Land Commission. Most of the army camps are yet to be dismantled and only 40 percent of the refugees have been resettled on their lands. Among the tribal peoples and their support groups, it has widened the split between the pro-accordists and anti-accordists who have challenged the accord as not fulfilling the demand for full autonomy. Moreover, the highly polarized and divisive politics of Bangladesh makes the peace accord an issue of contention for the major parties. States have at various historical moments faced challenges posed by the divisive pulls of ethnicity, race, religion, and culture. A major issue of contention has been one of the sharing of state power by the dominant group. Often, some kind of devolution of power and authority satisfies the group aspiring to share power. On occasion, the demand for power sharing has led to a demand for autonomy, which when resisted transforms itself into demand for independent statehood. The emergence of Bangladesh is an example of the latter phenomena. Since 17 years have passed and the accord remains basically in the paper of peace accord but it hardly appeared in the life of CHT people due to two apparent factors. First, it is a structural flawed accord because instead of addressing the fundamental causes of the problem it attempted to bypass them; hence it was designed to fail. Second, notwithstanding a flawed agreement, it yet could build a process which could paved the way for addressing the deep-rooted issues of the problem, but insincerity of successive Bangladeshi government the door for such a possibility.
Though Bangladesh ratified all of the major international human rights treaties and conventions and is legally bound to comply with these international human rights treaties, but it does not comply with them so far as the minorities are concerned. Relative to the total population, Bangladesh has a fairly small population on ethnic minorities. According to Philip Gain, although government census estimates the number of ethnic communities in 1991 as only 27, the ethnic communities themselves estimate more than 45 in the number. However, Gain estimates the ethnic group number to be around 90, who live in both plain land and in hill areas. It is alleged that the tribal communities in Bangladesh are the most deprived of economic, social, cultural and political rights mainly due to their ethnic status. The major problem for all minority communities is land grabbing as there are no adequate policies to protect their land. The traditional land rights of ethnic minorities are being ignored. The present paper assesses progress in the implementation of the major provisions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord, which was signed on 2 December 1997 by the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), after 25 years of low-intensity guerrilla war waged in reaction to violations and suppression of the rights of ethnic minorities in that region of the country.