There’s still silence on the rights of plainland adivasis

Indigenous people living in the plainlands find their existence at risk -- having lost ancestral land over decades against the backdrop of their rights and ethnic identity not yet recognised by the constitution and the government, speakers said at a dialogue yesterday.

The rights of adivasis living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have come to the fore since the signing of CHT Peace Accord in 1997. While the move prompted local and international rights organisations and civil society members to initiate talks over the matter and press home implementation of the accord, there is still on the rights of plainland adivasis, they said.

The policy dialogue was organised by Research and Development Collective (RDC) and the Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous People and Minorities, with help from Human Rights Programme, UNDP at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in the capital. The event marked the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples -- observed on August 9.

The charge sheet that the Police Bureau of Investigation recently submitted with no mention of police involvement in the 2016 arson attack on the Santal community in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj upazila was a glaring example of falsehood and biased reporting on an issue involving plainland adivasis, said Fazle Hossain Badshah, MP and convener of the Parliamentary Caucus.

On behalf of the caucus, he said he rejected the charge sheet.

Shahriar Kabir, chairperson of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (a forum for secular Bangladesh and trial of war criminals), said there was a distinct difference between aboriginals and indigenous people.

Both terms are translated in Bangla as “adivasi”, he said, adding that government high-ups have a misconception that recognising the ethnic minorities as adivasis or indigenous people would require the government to acknowledge their rights as that of native people or aboriginals. 

But according to the definition of the ILO or the United Nations, those who have preserved their culture, language, literature as they are and have not blended in with the mainstream population, fall under the category of indigenous people, Shahriar said.

Land rights of those in the CHT have been protected by the accord as Bengalis are forbidden to own land there. However, there is little implementation of the accord.

On the other hand, land rights of plainland adivasis are not even recognised.

For example, Zannat-E-Ferdousi, general secretary of the RDC, in a write-up presented yesterday claimed the forest department had been driving away Garo and Coch communities from Madhupur forest. As a result of the systematic aggression, adivasis have become minorities in their own areas.

Speakers yesterday emphasised the need for a minority protection act and a national minority commission to protect the rights of plainland indigenous people along with people of other minority communities.

For plainland adivasis, there should also be a separate ministry to look after their needs, they said.

Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum said, “How democratic, developed and civilised a nation or a state is can be judged by the well-being of the community that is left behind.”