Changing context in the CHT - Meghna Guhathakurta In recent years, settler Bengalis has become more organized. This has often been as a result of the military backing given to them in the form of the Shomo Odhikar Andolon. (Equal Rights Movement) or in more urban centres in the form of occupational groups of the tertiary sector like van owners samitis, who are mostly Bengalis and whose political leadership often stems from mainstream parties like Awami League, BNP and Jamaat e Islam. Organizations such as ‘Shomo Adhikar Andolon’ to a certain extent have drawn support from the army, from the BNP political party, and some motivated vested interest. But this is not consistently the case everywhere. In Khagrachari and Rangamati, it seemed that they were structured from outside. ------------------------------------------------------------- [I]t is necessary to outline the changing scene in the CHT in recent years. The first is change in the proportionate population balance between Bengalis and indigenous people in the Hill Tracts. From a position of a region where indigenous people had a dominance, it has become a region where Bengalis exist almost in equal numbers and the towns and market areas controlled largely by Bengali traders. In recent years, settler Bengalis has become more organized. This has often been as a result of the military backing given to them in the form of the Shomo Odhikar Andolon. (Equal Rights Movement) or in more urban centres in the form of occupational groups of the tertiary sector like van owners samitis, who are mostly Bengalis and whose political leadership often stems from mainstream parties like Awami League, BNP and Jamaat e Islam. Organizations such as ‘Shomo Adhikar Andolon’ to a certain extent have drawn support from the army, from the BNP political party, and some motivated vested interest. But this is not consistently the case everywhere. In Khagrachari and Rangamati, it seemed that they were structured from outside. You have to note here that there is a difference between the settlers in rural areas and in the urban areas in CHT. In the rural areas the settlers are mostly very poor as a result they can be told anything. If you give them settlement they will accept it and anyone who gives them food security or any other basic ways of surviving, they will follow them. On the contrary, when we went to the urban areas, that is where we saw that there has been a subtle change over the years. For example, if you look at the market and who is controlling the market in the urban areas you will find that hardly any hill people bases exist, whereas, if you look at the Shomo Adhikar Andolon who met our researchers in Bandarban, they were all presidents or general secretaries of van ‘shamities’/cooperatives, ‘rickshawala shamities’/cooperatives. They belong to the tertiary sectors. It is the tertiary sector from which this equality argument is being manifested, as it is these people who are thinking of the next generation. Their children needs to be educated in the same colleges, the same universities as the indigenous peoples and that is why they want 50:50 share in quotas. Although there has been an embargo on land leased to individuals in recent years, a huge number of land has been leased for plantations, cantonements etc. on the plea that it is for development purpose. As a result many settlements of indigenous people have been evicted and displaced in the process. Conflict between the people and the leasing parties have led to much bloodshed and rancour. In CHT Accord there is a provision that the lands which have been given lease for rubber or any other prospective cultivation, if these lands remain unused for 10 years then lease will be terminated. For example in 3 upazillas of Bandarban 40 thousand crore land is on lease and these are leased to ‘high class’ people, ‘top’ bureaucrats, army officials, ranking civilians, etc. Whenever there is any dialogue regarding CHT Peace Accord then these people create obstacles to prevent the Peace Accord to being implemented so that they do not lose their land. However, CHT Commission is looking on the subject of the huge land lease issue and they will pursue this matter to the government. The post-Accord era have been characterized by institutions set up by CHT Accord e.g. MoCHTA, the Regional Council etc. These institutions have however not been operating in their full capacities because of the non-implementation of the CHT Accord by the last BNP-Jamaat regime and the caretaker government. Another characteristic of development in the Hills in the post-accord era has been the influx of development aid, the generation of local/NGOs, and the extension of national NGO operations in the area. This has brought a lot of external interest to the hill people, a fact which is often encouraged by indigenous people, but discouraged by political parties such as the BNP and Jamaat as well as the military, as that would erode some of their monopoly over activities in the hills. The CHT Commission was initially formed in the nineties to monitor and watch the human rights situation in the hills. It was an international group of academics and rights activists who projected the situation of the Hill Tracts to the world through a series of reports entitled Life is Not Ours. The Commission stopped functioning after the Accord, since it thought that now the questions of the CHT would be addressed domestically. But due to the partial fulfillment of the Accord and non-implementation of many of the important clauses, many in the past Commission as well as new individuals , both national and international interested in the welfare of people of the CHT decided to re-establish the Commission. The CHT Commission was re-established on May 2008 and it now consists of both international and national members. It has conducted visits to the Hill Tracts to gauge the situation of human rights in the hills and have undertaken varioys lobby activities, including meeting the top leve l decision makers, including the prime Minister with the view to urge the Government to provide a road map for the implementation of the accord. The National Human Rights Commission was formed during the period of the caretaker government and the three member commission led by a former judge has just started working. Although one of the members is a Chakma, the Commission needs to strengthen its mandate and establish its independence from the Government in order for it to deal with the situation in the Hill Tracts in any meaningful way. Originally published in the anthology Between Ashes and Hope: Chittagong Hill Tracts in the Blind Spot of Bangladesh Nationalism (Drishtipat/Manusher Jonno Foundation). alalodulal.org/2014/07/05/somo-odhikar/
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 07:24:59 +0000
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