Development partners and rights watchdogs, at a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday, urged the government to implement the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord, and its pledges regarding ethnic minorities, before it completes its tenure. They came up with the call at a discussion organised by Bangladesh Adivasi Forum (BAF), on the occasion of World Indigenous Day, which falls on August 9, amid frustration expressed by one of the signatories to the 1997 treaty, which accused the government of being insincere about implementing the deal and resolving their issues.
President of BAF and Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS), Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, alias Santu Larma, said indigenous people of Bangladesh have been deceived by successive governments, and accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of being ‘not friendly to indigenous peoples’, and expressed doubt whether her government could ever be so.
Santu Larma, addressing the Prime Minister, said, “Why did not you implement the deal which you had signed 16 years ago? You may talk about many things in your response, but, I would still say you have deceived the hill people.”
UN resident coordinator Neal Walker said that in his observations he has found that there exists a bad practice in Bangladesh, which is to initiate moves for resolving any issue, at the fag end of a government’s tenure. He asked the government to show good results from such practice, by implementing the deals, and other pledges that were made to ethnic minorities, with polls coming up soon.
He also called on amending the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act, before the government’s tenure was over, as, if land disputes are resolved, then most of the problems would also get resolved.
Walker lamented at the still incomplete job of transferring functions of various departments to the CHT Region Council and hill district councils, and at the non-allocation of required human and financial resources, to carry out the functions that have already been transferred.
Walker said it ultimately lies with the people of Bangladesh how they define the word ‘indigenous’, but there are some characteristics to identify indigenous people in general, and Bangladeshi ethnic groups show those characteristics.
Canada’s high commissioner to Dhaka, Heather Cruden, said the government has achieved several commendable goals regarding ethnic communities, but, still, there were many things that it needs to do. She called on the government to resolve the issues related to ethnic communities, before its tenure ends.
The chairman of parliamentary caucus on indigenous issues, Rashed Khan Menon, lamented that there was a chance for Bangladesh to remove the stigma, by recognising indigenous people in the Constitution, during the 15th Amendment to it.
“We could have gone one step forward by recognising the small ethnic groups, instead, we are now ten steps backward,” he said.
He said the 1997 treaty earned the Prime Minister a Unesco Award, but the deal was yet to be implemented.
Chakma Circle Chief (Raja) barrister Devashish Roy, also a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said the clauses of the 1997 deal were yet to be implemented, and the people concerned have forgotten the unwritten clauses of repatriating the state-sponsored migrants from the hills. He called on the government to get out of the culture of violating treaties.
EU Charge d’Affaires Andrew Barnard and Danish charge d ‘affaires Lene Volkersen, BAF general secretary Sanjeeb Drong, women’s leader Chaitali Tripura, and youth leader Sohel Hajang also spoke at the discussion.
-With The Independent input
