Hill Voice, 21 November 2024, Special Correspondent:

The preservation of the characteristics of tribal inhabited region

The historic Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord was signed on 2 December 1997 between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) with a view to resolving the CHT problem in political and peaceful means. 

The section no.1 under Part ‘A’ of the CHT Accord recognizes the need of preserving the characteristics of this region and attaining the overall development thereof having considered the CHT region as a tribe-inhabited region. 

In ensuring this provision of the CHT Accord, resolution of land disputes, preservation of land rights of the CHT residents, establishment of special governance system in CHT, rehabilitation of returnee refugees and internally displaced Jumma families, determination of definition of non-tribal permanent residents, preparation of voter list with permanent residents etc. are included. 

In response to the demand placed by PCJSS, the then Chief Whip Abul Hasnat Abdullah, Convener of National Committee on CHT Affairs time and again informed the PCJSS representatives that the settlers who had been rehabilitated in 1980s, as assured by the Prime Minister, would be relocated in the plain lands. But it was for some special reason that could not be mentioned in the Accord. Referring to that assurance, Prime Minister reiterated the issue to the PCJSS representatives headed by PCJSS President soon after the occasion of signing the Accord on 2 December 1997 in Dhaka.

The statement pronounced by the government claiming that the issue of development and preservation of language and culture of the tribes, minor races, ethnic sects and communities has been ensured through inclusion in Article 23(a) under the 15th Amendment to the constitution is not appropriate. In order to preserve the tribal pre-dominated characteristics of the region, on part of the government, it is essential to take the following steps-  

(1) to introduce a statutory measure to the constitution stating that CHT is a region pre-dominated by multi-lingual hill/tribal people; 

(2) to incorporate the words ‘or the hill people of Chittagong Hill Tracts’ immediately after the words “in favour of women or children or the backward sections of citizens” in Article 28(4) of the constitution and 

(3) to adopt and implement a plan for rehabilitation of settlers settled in 1980s in the plain districts. 

According to the said provisions, no appropriate legal and administrative steps have been taken by the government to uphold the national existence of the Jumma peoples and preserve the characteristics of the Jumma inhabited areas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. 

On the other hand, the settlement of settler Bengalis with the aim of undermining the ‘characteristic of tribal areas’; expansion of settler cluster villages; Committing of 21 communal attacks on Jummas after the CHT Accord to convert the non-Muslim CHT into Muslim-majority region; Inclusion of outsiders in the voter list of CHT; Issue of Permanent Resident Certificate by Deputy Commissioner and providing employment and other facilities to them; Land grabbing; Land settlement and leasing to outsiders; infiltrating outsiders to marginalize the Jumma population; Creating a communal environment in CHT and instigating against the CHT Accord by organizing the settler Bengalis through forming the so-called ‘Sama Adhikar Andolan’ and ‘Parbatya Chattagram Nagarik Parishad’ and Attempt to legalize the land expropriated by the settlers through land survey, etc., activities are continually going on.

It should be noted that hundreds of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar are establishing permanent settlements in Naikhyongchari, Lama, Alikdam and Sadar upazilas in Bandarban district with the direct or indirect assistance of the administration. They continue to register as voters and enjoy various benefits with permanent resident certificates. While updating the voter list, voter lists of CHT have been being prepared enlisting outsiders in violation of the CHT Accord. 

In fact, after the signing of the CHT Accord, two-thirds of the clauses including the core issues of the Accord have not been implemented even in the last 27 years.