A Study conducted by the Bangladeshi Government and the United Nations, in over a thousand households between 2009-2010, concluded that Minorities in particular suffer from poverty and illiteracy.
The rate of poverty among ethnic minorities in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is apparently more acute than that of the people in the Monga-prone plain lands in the north, reveals a study in the city on Tuesday July 31st 2010.
The study, conducted over 1,012 households in greater Rangpur as well as Bandarban and Rangamati in 2009-10, said around 65 percent of study population in CHT was found living below the poverty line, compared to nearly 60 percent of plain lands.
Unlike Chakma tribe, the study said, the literacy rate among the ethnic group was also poor compared to people living in Monga areas, one of the country's poorest parts where erosion from river Jamuna and its tributaries renders thousands homeless every year.
The study, done under joint sponsorship of the government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, says the problem of monga, a seasonal unemployment and food crisis, has subsided partially in greater Rangpur and parts of Pabna, but permanent solution to it is far from sight.
It said the total vulnerability to poverty and food crisis for the people in the north was found to be much higher than that of the people in the hill tracts because of high variability of food consumption in greater Rangpur.
"Although the rate of poor in CHT areas is higher, the number of hardcore poor people, who consume food that contains less than 1,800 kilo calorie, was higher in the north," Prof Rezai Karim Khandker, principal investigator of the study, said at the warp- up session of two-day workshop in the city today.
Food Planning and Monitoring Unit of Ministry of Food and FAO jointly organized the workshop to review the findings from 11 researches done under grants from a project titled 'National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme'.
Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Monday formally opened the workshop, where US Ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty also spoke.
Rezai Karim, also head of economics department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), said the poverty in CHT was partially minimized by the ethnic group themselves because of their dependence on both agriculture and non- agriculture jobs.
In contrast, he said, the people of the north have no other options but to depend on agriculture in the Monga-prone areas. The over-dependence on agriculture coupled with river erosion have outweighed the advantages of the people of the north than that of the CHT.
He said severe food insecurity persists in the monga-prone areas, where social safety net coverage from the government should be widened and strengthened along with raising awareness among the people on health and nutrition.
As mid-term solution, he said, the agriculture extension department should diversify agro-based products in the areas to raise poor people's income and inspire them to send all their kid to schools. The river erosion should be checked and labour- intensive industries can be set up as a long-term solution, he observed.
FAO headquarters representative Kostas Stamoulis, who supervises the all researches under NFPCSP, said non-agricultural interventions such as poultry farming and fisheries need to be recognized side by side with agricultural interventions to offset poverty.
The Hindus living in Dhaka city are facing a severe shortage of cremation grounds due to wholesale encroachment over the years.
The cremation grounds are also weighed down with numerous problems such as water shortage, worn out building, lack of sitting arrangement and toilet, coupled with the drug peddlers gathering after dusk.
Only one cremation ground has been established since independence taking the number to just three for the city's growing number of Hindus. No statistics are available on the Hindu population in the capital, but the community leaders claim it to be around 20 percent of the city's total population of over one crore.
According to Hindu religious custom, bodies of adults are usually cremated while the bodies of children under eight are buried. However, some of the Hindu castes bury the deceased, both young and adult, instead of cremating. Baishnobs, for example, are buried.
Established over a hundred years back, the two cremation grounds located in Postogola and Lalbagh are maintained by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) while the one established in Sabujbag some 10 years ago is maintained by Sabujbagh Borodeshwari Kali Mandir.
Postogola Mahasmashan, recognised as the national cremation ground, was set up on some 180 kathas of land. It has now been reduced to only 40 kathas as some re-rolling mills and iron sheet cutting factories have encroached a large portion of the land, said the general secretary of Postogola Jatiya Mahasmashan Committee Babul Das.
DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka knows about the encroachment problem. Talking to The Daily Star, he said DCC also recovered parts of the encroached land during the last caretaker government's tenure.
“A committee was also formed with Major General (retd) CR Dutta as the convenor to recover the rest of the encroached land. But the committee didn't continue its work,” he added.
The one in Lalbagh was originally established on 100 kathas of land but now only half of it remains because of gradual encroachment over the years.
Sabujbag ground also faces similar problem with its burial ground. However, in general, it is in a better condition in terms of other facilities, Hindus say.
The burial ground at Postogola has capacity to bury only 70 bodies. Due to the space constraints, graves are replaced within three months and the authority is no longer permitting bodies of adults to be buried there.
"The main problem is to bury children as every single inch of the burial ground has already been used," said Babul Das.
Mongol Ghosh, secretary general of Lalbagh Smashan Unnayan Committee, gives a grimmer picture. “The situation in Lalbagh is so depressing that shovelling up to just one foot brings out bones of previously buried children,” he said.
To add to the sufferings of the Hindus, the cremation grounds are too far away for many residents across the city's newly developed residential areas.
“This grave problem has been overlooked in the city plan," said Kajal Debnath, a presidium member of Bangladesh Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad.
Community leaders said they have time and again raised the issues like establishment of new burial grounds, modernisation of funeral pyre with gas furnace and ensuring hygiene of the people living around the cremation grounds to the authority but did not receive much response.
Khoka, the city mayor, however says the Hindus never brought it to him that the issue of burial ground is so severe.
He also said an electric incinerator worth Tk 3 crore was installed in Postogola to modernise it but is now lying idle because it is not cost effective for the users.
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Regional Council Chairman Jyotirindra Bodhiprio Larma alias Santu Larma yesterday called upon the government to introduce a special governing system in the CHT region by amending the constitution.
He said a 'different reality' would surely emerge in the region, if the High Court verdict scrapping the CHT Council Act is upheld by the Supreme Court.
Therefore, the government would have to take initiatives to amend the constitution to make the CHT Council Act and CHT District Council Act effective.
Santu Larma was speaking at a regional workshop on 'Land problem in the CHT and measures to overcome' at Rangamati district sports council auditorium.
CHT Forest and Land Rights Movement, Kapeng Foundation and Khagrachhari Headman Association organised the two-day workshop.
Criticising the CHT land commission chairman, Santu Larma said he was making the things complicated instead of resolving the problems.
Presided over by CHT Forest and Land Rights Movement President Goutam Dewan, the workshop was also addressed by Chakma Circle Chief Raja Debashish Roy, Bomang Rajkumar Chalapru Chowdhury Jimi and Khagrachhari Headman Association President
Shaktipada Tripura.
Professionals from Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban are taking part in the workshop.
Chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council (CHTRC) Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma yesterday said not a single clause of the CHT peace deal has seen implementation in last 19 months as the present Awami League-led grand alliance government is not sincere about this matter.
The CHTRC chairman, also president of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), said this while speaking as chief guest at the opening ceremony of the two-day-long fourth conference of PCJSS district committee at Poursabha hall room in the town.
Popularly known as Shantu Larma, the PCJSS chief said the CHT people are captive due to activities of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and role of some security persons in the name of 'Operation Uttaran'.
The armed cadres of UPDF have killed 96 leaders and activists of PCJSS, he said, adding that the ethnic people in CHT are still facing harassment, repression and torture.
Communalism, fundamentalism and anti-progressive activities still prevail in the country, the PCJSS chief said.
He recalled the role of PCJSS founder late Manobendra Narayan Larma in the struggle for achieving the rights of jummo people.
Blaming state minister for CHT affairs ministry Dipankar Talukder for remaining 'silent' about the solution of CHT problems, the PCJSS chief urged the jummo people to be alert about any politics that is not favourable for them.
Presided over by president of district unit of PCJSS Gunendu Bikash Chakma, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by member of CHT Regional Council Sneh Kumar Chakma, its district unit Secretary Bodhi Satta Chakma, Youth Affairs Secretary Suvas Basu Chakma, Chairperson of CHT Mohila Samity Madhabi Lata Chakma, central committee Secretary of Pahari Chhatra Parishad Nitol Chakma and district committee President of Hill Women's Federation Jonaki Chakma.
The speakers called upon the PCJSS leaders and activists to be more united and dedicated to continue strive for full implementation of the CHT peace deal and establishment of the right of self-determination of the jummo people.
Hundreds of leaders, activists and supporters of PCJSS from different upazilas joined the conference.
The advent of Sheikh Hasina Wajed in 2009 has not augured as well for the minority communities of Bangladesh , particularly the Hindus, who remain as unprotected as in previous years. The grim reality is that there are no sincere governmental efforts to prevent the grabbing of temple lands (or their restoration to the community, if grabbed by anti-social elements), grabbing of minority private lands and property, or seizure of cremation grounds.
On the other hand, rape and particularly gang-rape, remain the sad fate of Hindu girls who fall into the hands of miscreants, and even the tender age of six or eight years does not deter the evil-doers. There is forced conversion, especially of minor girls after abduction, and extortion from Hindu families – a kind of illicit Jazia tax, as the price for remaining Hindu.
The Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW), a Human Rights and non-profit organization based in Dhaka, working for the protection of the rights of Bangladesh Minorities specially destitute Hindus, Buddhists, other indigenous and Chakma groups, has consistently demanded their protection as per international protocols.
Among the most painful and persistent atrocities is the continued destruction of temples and illegal seizure of temple lands and properties. According to the law, temple properties cannot be transferred to individuals. But this has not deterred a roaring trade in illicit conveyance deeds executed by the so-called owners of the lands, who died a hundred or two hundred years ago (!), which are then used to usurp Hindu temple lands. This grabbing of Deity property is continuing currently at the hands of cadres of the ruling Awami League.
Sadly, I and my colleagues have over the years met the Indian Prime Minister (Atal Bihari Vajpayee), Home Ministers (L.K. Advani, Shivraj Patil), even the Hon’ble President, but the Indian government has been less than forthcoming in its support to our legitimate cause. The discrimination against Hindus is rampant, and from once comprising 30% of the population of the State of Bangladesh, they are today barely 2% of the population. They have simply fled and melted into the neighbouring state of West Bengal, India, unable to bear the sustained atrocities. They have come here for succour, unlike the Bangladeshi Muslims who come to India for economic opportunities and the readily available ration cards and election I-cards!
The crux of the problem, in the opinion of Bangladesh Minority Watch, is the Eighth Amendment, whereby Gen. H.M. Ershad converted the country into an Islamic Republic and made Islam the State Religion. Another Black Law is the Enemy (now Vested) Property Act of 1965, which remains on the statute book and is being mis-used to confiscate the property of Hindus. This is a key reason for the continuous migration of Hindus from the country, though we do not want to leave our homes and hearths, and move only when totally disempowered…
Therefore, what we are sincerely demanding is the restoration of the Constitution of 1972, a Minority Rights Commission, and freedom of religion with the removal of Islam as State Religion, and a crackdown on the incidents of human trafficking. Government of India should raise its voice in support of our just cause. The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 has still not been operationalised, and people continue to suffer. How long will this go on?
The Bangladesh Minority Watch, which continuously investigates incidents of atrocities against the minorities – on the basis of reports in a largely free and fair press – has observed a sharp rise in communal atrocities up to 30 June 2010. We have investigated more than 40 incidents of repression, torture, persecution, land-grabbing, forceful conversion, gang-rape, and demolition of temples of Minorities in various parts of Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina came to power. A potent form of discrimination and economic deprivation is the dismissal of minority employees from service without assigning any reason; lack of employment for newcomers in the employment market, deprivation of educational opportunities, and so on.
Rough estimates show that after the Awami League came to power in June 2009, to the present time:
100 persons from the minority groups have been killed
105 women/children from minority groups have been raped
1200 minority persons have been physically tortured
2050 minority families have been displaced
100 religious places have been demolished
105 business and dwelling houses have been set on fire and immovable properties looted
306 minority persons forcefully converted
Some most recent examples include:
17 Hindu men, women and children were sent to jail custody at Dinajpur while they were about to be trafficked from Bangladesh to the Indian border, without any tangible offence (The Daily Janakantho, 27 May 2010).
A Hindu girl, Archana Rani Rajbanshi, 17, was abducted and gang-raped at Manikgonj district on 24 June 2009 (Daily Samakal, 26 August 2009).
Six-year-old Hindu child, Beauty Biswas, raped on 11 March 2010 at Gach Baria, p.s. Lohagora, district Narail , Bangladesh (Purbanchal, 13 March 2010).
Hindu fishermen at Sitakunda, Chittagong , allege that cadres loyal to local Awami League lawmaker Abul Kashem Master are threatening them to leave their homes in order to extend the land of a industry run by his followers (Daily Star, 6 April 2010).
Another troubling reality is the menace of Extra-Judicial Killings. Persons are killed without any trial in crossfire. In several meetings, the overall political, social and human rights situation has come up for discussion with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). But the powers-that- be are of the opinion that the killings fall within the purview of law, and treat the matter lightly.
Hence, Bangladesh Minority Watch demands:
An immediate end to the discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous people of Bangladesh in all levels of government and non-government jobs, including the armed forces and police department.
A fair share of positions for ethno-religious minorities in the military, paramilitary, police, and civil and foreign services.
Guarantee security of life and properly of minority communities in Bangladesh .
Uphold basic human rights of all citizens enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Restore secularism in the Bangladesh Constitution and scrap the 8th Amendment.
Stop land grabbing and forced eviction of Minorities.
Completely repeal the Vested (Enemy) Property Act and implement it.
Implement the Peace treaty between Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Prosecute criminals engaged in violence against minorities since 2001 and ensure that the verdicts of the courts of law are implemented.
Provide reparation to minority victims of all violence, including of 2001, and rehabilitate them fairly and equitably.
Rebuild all damaged temples and places of worship subjected to violence, and stop future attacks on places of worship.
Punish the perpetrators irrespective of political affiliation and religious belief.
Set up a Minority Human Rights Commission and a separate cell for Minority Welfare.
It is our sincere desire that Bangladesh, member of the United Nations, upholds the rule of law and endows upon its citizens the human rights and justice guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The author is President-Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) and an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh; he was on a visit to New Delhi recently to canvass support for human and minority rights in Bangladesh; his website iswww.bdmvv.org
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New Age, Dhaka. 27 May 2010
RULING PARTY MEN IN SPREE OF GRABBING MINORITY PEOPLE’S LAND
Staff Correspondent
Religious minorities in Bangladesh remain subjected to repression by the ruling quarters which appear to be in a spree of grabbing their land, leaders of a coalition of religious minorities said. The Hindu-Buddhist Christian Unity Council recorded 150 incidents of repression on minority people in different parts of the country in six months, the organisation’s general secretary Rana Das Gupta told New Age on Wednesday. He said least three people were killed because of repression while many houses were burnt and families were driven out from their homesteads. The assailants carried out attacks, looted valuables and tried to drive away families to take control of the land of minority communities. The minorities account for about 15 per cent of the country’s total population. Incidents of arson and extortion were reported from some places. Most of the land grab incidents took place in Natore, Pirojpur, Chittagong, Narsingdi, Bagerhat, Barisal, Madaripur, Tangail, Satkhira, Pabna, Manikganj and Munshiganj, according to the organisation report. Many of the families are under constant threats by influential people, according to complaints lodged with police stations. ‘Politically powerful quarters are involved in most of the case of repression and there has been hardly any remedy,’ Rana said, adding that the administration did not care much about the cases if ruling quarters were involved in the incidents. The police carry out investigation only of the cases having no direct involvement of political quarters, he said. ‘We have been witnessing repression on minority communities for a long time. During the previous regime, it was a minority cleansing and now we see ruling party activists in a land grabbing spree,’ the organisation secretary said. The president of the organisation, CR Dutta, also a veteran freedom fighter, said it was a fact that the minorities were repressed during the tenure of the present government. ‘We have informed the government of the atrocities. All should understand that the people do not take such persecution easily. The people responsible for such persecution will not be spared,’ he said, reminding the government of its electoral pledge to ensure safety and security of the minority communities. New Age correspondents from outside the capital said the activists of the ruling Awami League and its front organisations were mostly involved in such grabbing of or attempt to grab the land of the minorities. Some of the complaints were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking government’s intervention against such incidents. The New Age correspondent in Natore said local Awami League activists were extorting money from the minority people, mostly belonging to the Hindu community. On his failure to pay extortion money, Narayan Chandra, a resident of Natore, was forced to give his colour television set to the local goons at Lalpur. Another man, Bacchu, was forced to pay Tk.1.85 lakh he received by selling his property to a local government representative in the same upazila. At Baraigram, ruling party activists set on the fire the house of a minority family as the family refused to withdraw a criminal case filed against the activists who chopped one of the family members, Pradip Kumar. The correspondent in Khulna said four incidents of repression took place in the district after the Awami League-led government had assumed office in January 2009. According to the Dumuria police, Kamalesh Mistri, a resident of the area, filed a case with the police on November 17, 2009 against 8 people alleging that his niece, Shampa Mistri, 15, had committed suicide on November 13, 2009 as some young men used to harass her on her way to and from school. The family said most of the accused were activists of the Awami League and they had pressured the family to withdraw the case. The investigation officer of the case, SI Golam Rasul, said he had submitted the final report on the case as the complainant was unwilling to proceed. The homesteads of 14 Hindu families were levelled to the ground at Deuatala of Batiyaghata on November 24, 2009 by a group of musclemen, who were relatives of a local Awami League leader. The family of Anil Maitra at Kotla of Dighalia in Khulna were attacked, the house was looted and five of the family were injured early April 15, 2010. Anil’s son Amrita Maitra reportedly protested at the harassment of a teenaged girl by a local Juba League man. The Dighalia police said a case of robbery had been lodged in connection with the looting and attack on the family and the house. The Khulna district and city units of Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council at a meeting in its temporary office in Khulna on May 14, 2010, said brother of a Dumuria
Awami League leader had recently set up a brickfield by encroaching on the land of a religious minority family at Dumuria. In Bagerhat, at least three incidents of oppression on religious minorities were reported. The allegations are grabbing of 130 bighas of shrimp enclosure at Bakultala of Rampal by a local influential person in February, felling of 40 trees belonging to a Hindu family at Bandhkhali in the sadar upazila in March, and grabbing of the Arpara Bazar temple land in the sadar upazila in the second week of May 2010. At Bamna in Barguna, schoolteacher Shyamal Chandra Karmaker said an influential quarter on May 26, 2010 had removed the boundary pillar and red flags put up on a court order demarcating his land. In a petition filed with the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council, a group of Hindu community people of Chitalmari in Bagerhat sought protection against repression by a group. They said more than 100 people had migrated from the vicinity after felling prey to repression by Surat Ali Sheikh and his men during the previous BNP-led alliance government.
They said the same group hand changed its colour and committed atrocities on the minority people. In Chittagong, failing to grab a piece of land of a Hindu family, a gang demanded Tk 5,000,000 from Manoj Kumar Barua in April 2010. As the land owner refused to pay the money, the gang attacked Barua’s house on Harish Dutta Lane. A real-estate company has allegedly taken a project a piece of land of the Hindu community at Raujan. The residents of Pahartali union a year ago urged government steps against the project but there had hardly been any progress, the leaders of the community said. In Munshiganj, a group has been out to grab 1.73 acres of land belonging to a temple used by 50 Hindu families at Dighirpar of Tongibari.
A local Awami League leader has allegedly built five houses on the temple premises. A minority community girl was abducted from her house at Sultanpur of Harirampur in Manikganj by a group of local goons in June 2006, the victim’s father said in an application filed with the home ministry. The complainant said the goons had left the girl near a marshland after rape. The incident was reported to the local police station but the police were unwilling to extend cooperation while the accused continued to threaten the family asking not to take up the matter with court. In June and July 2009, schoolteacher Akhil Chandra Saha in Rajshahi and businessman Suman Goala and a young man, Asish Sarker, in Jamalpur were killed by miscreants.
Repression of minority people continues: CR Dutta Abdullah Juberee and Moloy Saha The president of Bangladeshi Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, Chitta Ranjan Dutta is unhappy with the ruling Awami League’s treatment of the minority communities although it was their hard work that helped the party gain overwhelming majority in parliament. ‘I would like to say 90 per cent of us are supporters of the Awami League as it believes in four guiding principles of the state — secularism, democracy, socialism and nationalism. Now, I think the time has come for the Awami League to realise the situation and take our issues into consideration,’ Dutta said in an interview with New Age on Monday at his DOHS residence.
Dutta lamented the continued suffering of the minority people, even during the tenure in the Awami League-led government, and demanded ‘some action’ against the oppressive acts. ‘Lands of our people are being gabbed. Even the lands of the national temple Dhaleshwari Mandir has been occupied by giant corporate houses and multi-storey buildings are being erected there,’ he said. ‘We have told the prime minister about it, we told [the deputy leader of the house] Sajeda [Chowdhury] and they said they would look into the matter. They are not saying anything negative, but they have to show us some action,’ he added.
About 300 children aged between three to 18 years were violated in last three years and 62 of them were killed after the rape, says a report.
It says 646 children were murdered and 4,807 died in various circumstances in 2007-2009.
Save The Children, Sweden-Denmark placed this statistics at a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday.
The report tilled "This is our life" was made based on the reports published in daily newspapers collected by Ichchey Media Group, a children-run organisation.
The report says there are more than 85 ways by which children can be harmed, injured, abused, murdered or tortured and a total of 5,461 children died in various circumstances in three years.
The number of early marriage has also increased as 24 early marriages took place in 2009 compared to 15 in 2008, said Swapna, a member of the Media Group while presenting the findings.
Physical torture on children has also increased over the last three years with 77 children reportedly being tortured in 2009 compared to 29 in 2008, said Ramjan, another presenter adding, "Girls are the main victims of physical torture."
But number of children who were mentally tortured as reported in the newspapers was only 1 but such torture was 334 in 2007 and 558 in 2008, said Sujon, another member of the group.
Terming the figure as alarming, Save The Children Country Director Birgit Lundbak said it is the duty of adults to save children against such violence.
"The report is called 'This is our life', but it is not a very good life," she said, adding that children are the victim of rape, abuse, murder, drowning, mistreatment and many other things.
The members of Ichchey Media Group urged journalists to make follow up reports on the torture on children to keep pressure on the authorities concerned.
Swapna of the group said they monitored the Prothom Alo, Ittefaq, Somokal, Jai Jai Din and Jugantor.
HRCBM is a human rights and humanitarian organization working to uphold human rights for minorities in Bangladesh. Please visit us at http://www.hrcbm.org
A Study conducted by the Bangladeshi Government and the United Nations, in over a thousand households between 2009-2010, concluded that Minorities in particular suffer from poverty and illiteracy. 
