Seminar on CHT Bangladesh

A seminar on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) organised by the Jumma Peoples Network UK was held on Tuesday, 28 March 2006 at the House of Lords, London. Lord Avebury, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group and chairman, International Bangladesh Foundation chaired the meeting to discuss and explore mechanisms for the implementation of the Peace Accord and issues relevant to the human and minority rights in the CHT.
Prashanta Barua of the Youth Front, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) was the opening speaker who declared that the Peace Accord was not being implemented and the people were losing their lands due to military installations and to make way for settlements for new migrants from outside. Mr Barua commented that the elected MP of Khagrachari and Chairman of the CHT Development Board Mr. Wadud Bhuiyan who was not an indigenous hill man was considered to be the main promoter of anti-Peace Accord violence since the first day of signing of the agreement. Men under his leadership were involved in the assault of a well-known lawyer Mr. Kamal Hossain who was on his way to Rangamati to attend a meeting just a year ago. He added that the objective of the Peace Accord was to bring the level of the hill people at par with the rest of the country and the military was treating the hill people like aliens and foreigners.
He further stressed that the BHBCUC does not advocate for the hill peoples’ domination over others or that of Hindus or Muslims over others living in Bangladesh. Their organisation was campaigning for the equal treatment of all peoples.
Ina Hume of Vanishing Rites said that the indigenous people of Bangladesh face double discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs and ethnicity. Indigenous women are some of the poorest and most vulnerable of Bangladesh society. The reports of military abuses and ongoing transmigration policy are in direct contravention, not only of the Peace Accord (signed in 1997) but also of international laws and conventions ratified by Bangladesh. She continued to state that the Chittagong Hill Tracts is the most highly militarised area in Bangladesh. The reports of human rights abuses committed by military personnel often in collusion with Bengali settlers continue to this day. The use of rape and sexual violence targetting young Jumma women and girls has long been a method employed by the Bangladesh military in the Hill Tracts. These are not sexual crimes, but a systematic and brutal policy that targets Jumma women as a weapon of torture and subjugation against the whole community. She added, “The institutional racism that exists in the Army and other public institutions relating to every aspect of life for the indigenous people needs to be addressed if there is to be any real progress on the Peace Accord. Immunity on the security forces should be lifted so that the perpetrators may be prosecuted.” She proposed that third party mediation between the JSS and the Bangladesh government about the Accord would be beneficial. Several donors were of the view that development should not go on unless the Accord has been implemented in the first place; DfID (Department for International Development, UK) currently has one of its largest country programmes in Bangladesh. A portion of this funding goes towards building the capacity of civil servants and those in government. DfID recognises the problems of lack of representation of minorities within the civil service and the culture of discrimination that exists within the civil service.” Ms Hume added: “the British Government through DfID, FCO, Ministry of Defence and commercial interests has good relations with Bangladesh. We urge these institutions to use their ‘influencing roles’ on the Government of Bangladesh to uphold its responsibilities under the many treaties it has ratified.”
Stuart Morton of the Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) stated that there was a Human Rights desk at the Quaker UN office in Geneva. Their organisation was working to link other countries to the Non-Violent Movement in India. Regarding the CHT, he mentions that there were many people who were risking their lives to bring about changes in the Hill Tracts by non-violent ways. Their organisation was also aware that said people were being punished. He further stressed the fact that the future for the CHT people was through the non-violent route. Their organisation was trying to get some of the CHT people to join the non-violent movement. He defined the CHT problem as a “land rights and livelihood rights issue.” Referring to their activities in India he declared that the QPSW was involved in the work of the Naga people and the Government of India in an unofficial and confidential way to bring sustainable peace to the Naga people of Northeast India. His message to the CHT people was: Believe in your non-violent power and continue in this path; Try to work with others and with those people with whom you are trying to negotiate for the future; Try to build bridges amongst yourselves as there exists infighting that was also common in other parts of the world.
Bawm Literature Forum’s Lal Amlai, described the ongoing acquisition of indigenous peoples’ lands by the military in southern CHT. “On March 22, 2006 the government officials surveyed land in order to acquire 9,560 acres of land for the extension of Ruma military garrison. This expansion will result in the eviction of Jummas from about 37 villages. The government has already acquired 11,446.24 acres of land in Sualak Union of Bardarban for an Artillery Training Centre, evicting 400 Jumma families. A plan to further acquire 19,000 acres of land for the expansion of said Artillery Training Centre is now under consideration.
Mr Amlai lamented that the local indigenous people had lost their majority status that they had enjoyed since centuries in their own territories and described the onslaught of an alien culture imposed on the people: “One of the lost cities in CHT is Bandarban city. It has been some years that the Jumma people even cannot achieve to elect a single member in the Bandarban Pourashova (municipal corporation) election. All the members and chairman of the Pourashova belong to non-indigenous people accept for one – an indigenous Marma from ward no. 5. This city is now under the control of the Army and Bengali people. It is very sad to see that the Jummas are now a minority in their own town. The massive presence of illegal Bengali settlers in the town and in the district outnumber the indigenous people. These settlers can easily be seen inside and at the outskirts of the city. In the very near future this city can be considered as a dead and lost city for us.”
Kumar Sivasish Roy, spokesman of the Jumma Peoples Network UK elaborated on the regional institutions created by the CHT Peace Accord of 1997, their ineffectiveness due to lack of administrative and political support from the government. Mr Roy added that though the Accord recognises the CHT as a “Tribal-inhabited-region”, the implementation process of the provisions of the Accord was very slow and many unresolved issues fundamental to the security, economic & cultural prosperity and advancement of the indigenous people required urgent attention. He further highlighted the necessity of establishing the CHT multi-ethnic police force as prescribed by the Accord. He added that serious problems exist between the Regional Council and the civil administration headed by a Deputy Commissioner (DC), particularly from the lack of necessary government orders (GO). Referring to the three Hill District Councils, he commented that they were being administered by six government-appointed councillors instead of 31 elected members as stated in the concerned statute. This has lead to under-representation of women and members of smaller and relatively marginalised indigenous ethnic groups. Land administration, law and order, secondary education and other subjects are yet to be transferred to the district councils.
Venerable Dharmavidya David Brazier of Amida Trust UK mentioned that there were many CHT refugees in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Life of the CHT peoples was similar to that of the Kurds who were dispersed in several countries like Iran, Iraq & Turkey. Since the Chakma and other CHT peoples are small in numbers they face serious threat of getting absorbed into Bengali mainstream society and becoming Muslims.
In the meeting, Abbas Faiz from Amnesty International said that at the end of the armed conflict, there were unresolved political decisions in the region and the Bangladesh government had left the CHT tribal people to fend for themselves. He stated that human rights abuses, physical attacks, arson attacks and confiscation of indigenous peoples’ land by settlers was taking place with support from the military. “Bengali settlers in connivance with the Army in Mahalchari raped nine indigenous women in August of 2003. No one has been brought to justice up to now. No convictions have been made in a court of law and impunity prevails”. Amnesty’s expert on South Asia further commented that after nearly eight years since the signing of the Peace Accord, the Bangladesh government has failed to implement fully some of the most crucial provisions of the Accord e.g. the settlement of land confiscated from the tribal people during the conflict; withdrawal of non-permanent Army camps from the CHT; transfer of power to the CHT Regional Council;
In addition the tribal people feel that they’ve been subjected to continues discriminatory practices, e.g. they feel they are not fully informed in the decision-making processes and that of the development agencies in the area, the UN and other major players; He added that tribal land is continually being taken away from them & their customary land rights are not being recognised; There is a danger of losing their language and culture as they cannot receive education in their own language; There have been attempts to silence the intellectuals and representatives of the tribal people and business people. There is a need of concerted efforts on the part of the government to take action. The whole community should make efforts for the following: The provisions of the Accord which promised them the enjoyment of economic, social & cultural rights of the Jumma people are fully implemented; The reports of human rights abuses against the Jumma people are investigated by independent and impartial and a competent party and those found responsible are brought to justice; steps are taken to enhance equal opportunities in education, health care and social services for the Jumma people; Action is taken to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons and others affected by the previous conflict. The Land Disputes Resolution Commission is made functional with the full involvement of the Regional Council.
Mohammad Enamur Rahman Chowdhury, minister of the Bangladesh High Commission in London in response to allegations made earlier on regarding military camps and land grabbing mentioned that “152 camps out of 543 have been dismantled, the presence of the military forces is necessary to halt illegal trafficking of arms and due to the strategic importance of the region. The military camps shall be removed by phases. The Bangladesh government was taking every step to implement the peace accord – it is giving it active priority”. There are no mobile phone communications in the region, as mobile towers within a certain distance from the border are not permitted even in the rest of the country” he commented. Regarding the Mahalchari arson attacks of 2003, the diplomat added, “three cases have been filed and investigation is being carried out by the authorities.”
Amnesty’s Abbas Faiz requested Mr. Chowdhury for written information regarding the filing of three cases in connection to the investigation of the Mahalchari atrocities that the latter recently mentioned. He said that it was the first time that he had heard anything from a representative of the Bangladesh government about the Mahalchari violence.
Attending the event were Andrea Cottom (Human Rights Watch), Miriam Ross (Survival International), Sahana Chowdhury (Betar Bangla), Kamal Rajapakse (Sinhala Foundation), Maggie Bowden (Liberation), Adam Lavine (Home Office) and Ansar Ahmed Ullah (International Bangladesh Foundation). Members of the UK Jumma community were also present among others.
Lord Avebury thanked the participants for their valuable comments. He expressed his special thanks to the representatives of the Bangladesh High Commission, and particularly for their invitation to Parliamentarians to visit the CHT. However, he added that fleeting visits such as the recent one by representatives of EU missions in Dhaka were not likely to get a full picture of the situation, and a longer-term presence by international monitors would be desirable.