PEACE CAMPAIGN GROUP

RZ-I-91/211, West Sagarpur, New Delhi -110046, India

1 December 2003

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN CHT ARE IN CRISIS

AN URGENT ACTION APPEAL

The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), a political party representing the Jumma indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), has been demanding for autonomy in the CHT since 1972. It reached an agreement popularly known as “CHT Accord” with the government of Bangladesh in 1997. The accord provides limited self-rule for the indigenous people.

Six years passed by since the signing of the accord. But the government continues to remain non-committal to the fundamental points of the accord. These points include, among others, empowerment of the local governmental bodies, resolution of land-disputes between indigenous individuals and Bengali settlers, rehabilitation of the Jumma refugees and internally displaced Jummas, appointment of indigenous people and permanent non-indigenous (Bengali) residents in various levels of the local administration and withdrawal of the “temporary” military and paramilitary camps and the Bengali settlers from the CHT. The government has rather resorted to various foul and undemocratic means to undermine and manipulate the accord. It resulted in serous violation of the key points of the accord, gross land-grabbing and human rights abuses, and a series of large-scale violence against the indigenous people, such as the Mahalchari attacks on 26 August 2003 in which more than 400 houses of 14 indigenous villages were set ablaze, two indigenous people including an eight-month old baby were killed, more than 50 were injured, nine women were raped, two women were abducted and two Buddhist temples including statues of the Buddha were destroyed. The indigenous people led by the PCJSS have been democratically pressing the government to implement the accord for sustainable peace and development in the region. But it is unfortunate that the government continues to remain insensitive to their concerns. Rather, the government has been using force (military and police) against them in the name of maintaining the “law and order” in the hills. On the other hand, the government continues to wage a systematic demographic and cultural invasion in the CHT to destroy the ethnic identity of the indigenous people. Bengali settlers population in the CHT has gone up to 60% by now from less than 02% in 1947, according to some indigenous sources. And this trend continues to increase to an alarming extent.

The indigenous people continue to be deprived of democratic participation in the decision-making process in vital areas like development and law and order despite self-rule provided to them under the CHT accord. The government has appointed Bengalis in all key administrative posts like Deputy Commissioner (DC = highest district administrative official) and Thana Nirnabi Officer (TNO = highest sub-district administrative official) in violation of the concerned provisions of the CHT accord. Needless to say the officials practice systematic racism and racial discrimination against the indigenous people as directed by Dhaka (the government) through its anti-indigenous policy and programs in the CHT. The government has been manipulating the whole implementation process of the accord in a way in which more Bengalis are migrating into the CHT and development programs are becoming increasingly Bengali-oriented.

The way the government is violating or manipulating the whole implementation process has left no room for the indigenous people to control over the situation in the CHT. Examples of how the government is manipulating or violating the peace accord are given bellow:

1. The government held the 2001 general elections with a voter list, in which all the “non-permanent residents” (Bengali settlers and the members of the security forces) of the CHT were included in violation of the accord. For this reason, the PCJSS boycotted the elections. A Bengali settler, Mohammad Wadud Bhuiyan, was elected from the Khagrachari hill district of the CHT as member of the Bangladesh National Parliament! In violation of the accord, he was subsequently appointed as the Chairman of the CHT Development Board (CHTDB), the institution responsible for major development programs in the region!

2. As per the CHT accord, three Hill District Councils are to be formed with directly elected members. But the government formed these councils with its selected party workers! Now these bodies are functioning as a regional political party office of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). It may be noted that no elections of these bodies were held since 1989. The government continues to form these bodies with its selected party workers after the expiry of their term. This is how democracy has been killed in the region.

3. As per the accord, an indigenous MP is to be appointed as Minister to the Ministry on CHT Affairs. But the Prime Minister Ms. Begum Khaleda Zia has kept the forth-folio under her charge, and appointed her party colleague MP Moni Swapan Dewan to the post as Deputy Minister, who has practically no decision-making power. The Ministry works against the interest of the indigenous people. For example, on 21 December 2000, it served a notification No. 62/99-587 empowering the DCs of the three hill districts in the CHT to issue “permanent resident certificate” to the Bengali settlers in violation of the CHT accord. It should be noted that all the DCs of the three hill districts are Bengalis.

In this background, the PCJSS decided to step up its democratic movement in the entire CHT at a party meeting held on 14 - 16 November 2003 at Baghaichari High School Ground in Baghaichari Upazilla to press the government on the following demands:

(1)    To implement the CHT accord properly;

(2)    To remove racist, communal, corrupt and mastermind of the Mahalchari attacks MP Mohammad Abdul Wadud Bhuian from the post of the Chairman of the CHT Development Board and appoint a competent indigenous person in it as provided in the CHT accord;

(3)    To immediately withdraw all “temporary” military and paramilitary (Ansar, APB and VDP) camps including the military rule, “Operation Uttoron” from the CHT.

(4)    To appoint a full Minister from amongst the indigenous people in the CHT Affairs Ministry as provided in the CHT accord.

The Peace Campaign Group would like to urge the international community to take stock of the recent developments in the CHT and to put pressure on the government of Bangladesh through appropriate action for proper implementation of the CHT accord, a pre-requisite for democratic governance, human rights, and sustainable peace and development in the region. 

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