20 injured as Bangalees, Santals clash

Source: The Daily Star News

At least 20 people were injured in a clash between indigenous people and Bangalees yesterday over a piece of land belonging to a Christian missionary establishment at Baldipukur in Mithapukur upazila.

Of the injured, 10 were rushed to Mithapukur upazila health complex and Rangpur Medical College Hospital. They include two leaders of local Santals-- Silvions and Bipin.

Twelve of the injured are Santals and the others are Bangalees.

Mithapukur police said the clash broke out as the authorities of St Mary's Christian Missionary establishment started constructing a boundary wall on a plot of land adjacent to Adibashi Primary School run by it and Shah Abul Kashem High School established on land donated by it.

At this, a number of Bangalees attacked Santals with lethal weapons and the latter made a counter-attack with bows and arrows.

Contacted, Leo Deshai, priest at St Mary's Church, alleged that president of the managing committee of the high school Habibur Rahman led the attack.

He claimed that on March 18, the upazila administration removed some business establishments from the land and handed it over to them as per a court order.

But Habibur Rahman said the school authorities wanted the land to remain open as a playground of the school.

"And when construction of boundary wall on the land started, local people opposed it. This enraged Santals and they attacked the locals with bows and arrows,” he claimed.

Later, Additional District Magistrate Ruhul Amin Khan and Mithapukur Upazila Parshad Chairman Zakir Hossain visited the spot and asked both the sides to maintain status quo concerning the land.

US report sees some improvement in HR situation in Bangladesh

Source: The Financial Express

Despite some improvement in the government's human rights record, there were slight increase in the number of extrajudicial killings by security forces, custodial deaths, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists in Bangladesh, according to a Human Rights Report 2009 released by U.S. Department of State Thursday.

With the return of an elected government, reports of politically motivated violence increased 3.3 per cent, said the report prepared by Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

The failure to investigate fully extrajudicial killings by security forces, including the deaths in custody of alleged mutineers from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border force, remained a matter of serious concern, the report said.

Violence against women and children remained a serious problem, as did trafficking in persons. Violence against religious and ethnic minorities still occurred, although many government and civil society leaders stated that these acts often had political or economic motivations and could not be attributed only to religious belief or affiliation.

Members of the security forces committed numerous extrajudicial killings. The police, BDR, military, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) occasionally used unwarranted lethal force.

According to government statistics, there was a 3 per cent increase in the number of killings by all security personnel, and the government did not take comprehensive measures to investigate these cases despite public statements by high-ranking officials that the government would show "zero tolerance" and would fully investigate all extrajudicial killings by security forces, the report added.

According to media reports, local and international human rights organizations, and the government, law enforcement officials were responsible for 154 deaths, 129 of which were attributed to crossfire.

There were hundreds of daily and weekly independent publications. Although there were significant improvements over the previous year, newspapers critical of the government experienced some government pressure.

Attacks on journalists continued to be a problem. There was an increase in individuals affiliated with the government or ruling party harassing, arresting, or assaulting journalists. According to Odhikar and media watchdog groups, at least three journalists were killed, 84 were injured, one was arrested, 45 were assaulted, 73 were threatened, and 23 had cases filed against them during the year. According to some journalists and human rights NGOs, journalists engaged in self-censorship for fear of retribution from the government.

The government generally respected this right in practice. Religion shaped the platforms of some political parties, but the government was sensitive to the religious sentiments of most citizens. Violence against religious and ethnic minorities was a problem occasionally.

Discrimination against members of religious minorities, such as Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists, existed at both the governmental and societal levels, and religious minorities were disadvantaged in practice in such areas as access to government jobs, political office, and justice. The secular AL government, however, appointed some members of the minority communities to senior government and diplomatic positions. In the new cabinet, three of the 38 ministers were non-Muslims.

On January 22, the country held elections to the newly created upazila parishads, or subdistrict councils, throughout the country. There were reports of violence, intimidation, vote rigging, and low voter turnout. The candidates backed by the ruling party won most of the upazila posts, although the election was not officially party based. The election commission organized repolling in a number of upazilas where elections were suspended due to violence.

According to Odhikar, there were 454 reported incidents of rape during the year, including 211 against women and 243 against children. According to human rights monitors, the actual number of rape cases was higher because many rape victims did not report the incidents due to social stigma. Prosecution of rapists was not consistent.

Green light to cut 4,000 trees

Submitted by: Kapaeeng Foundation
Source: The Daily Star News

Over 100 trees already chopped down after HC directive; ethnic people, environmentalists protest

A timber trader chopped down over 100 trees and destroyed two betel leaf enclosers at Kailin Punji near Nahar Tea Garden in Srimangal yesterday after the High Court gave the go-ahead to cut down 4,000 trees. Earlier, 1,200 trees were already felled in 2008.

The HC bench comprising Justice Md Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed and Justice Naima Haider in the go-ahead on February 22 allowed the garden owner to cut the trees.

Indigenous people of neighbouring Khasia Punjis (villages) and environmentalist group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) apprehend displacement of indigenous people from their ancestral homesteads, loss of traditional livelihood and environmental degradation as a consequence of the wholesale tree felling.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest dubiously issued a permit on June 30, 2008 in favour of Nahar Tea Garden in Moulvibazar allowing it to chop down a total of 4,000 trees in exchange for Tk 47.51 lakh as royalty to the public treasury.

Nahar Tea Garden, however, made a deal with M/s Salim Timber and Traders to sell the 4,000 trees in October, 2006, two years prior to obtaining the permit. The deal involved Tk 1.5 crore.

Following protests by the Khasia community and Bapa, forest ministry on October 19, 2008 suspended the permit.

Before the suspension, the contractor, however, had cut 1,200 trees and removed them with elephants. The court in its February 22 directive did not mention the number of trees already felled.

Interestingly, Sylhet Divisional Forest Officer Md Delwar Hossain issued a fresh permit on February 2 this year allowing the garden owner to cut down 2,350 trees and asked to spare 450, as those are located in the Khasia Punjis (1200+2350+450=4000).

Following a writ petition filed by the timber trader Salim Uddin Mohalder and Nahar Tea Garden Manager Pijush Kanti Bhattacharya, the court on February 22 directed the forest department authorities and local administration to allow the felling of trees as per the earlier work order.

In the Sylhet Divisional Forest Office permit, the garden owner was asked to pay the government an enhanced royalty of Tk 1.19 crore for the trees as per revised rate of forest goods.

The HC in its February 22 rule also asked authorities including environment and forest secretary to show on what legal grounds they had imposed the enhanced royalty and reduced the number of trees by 450 and stayed the permit for three weeks.

"The timber trader started cutting the trees around noon with the backing of several hundred musclemen," said father Joseph, a religious leader of the local Khasia community.

Environment and Forest Secretary Mihir Kanti Majumdar said he would take initiatives to file an appeal today against the HC directive that allowed the felling of trees.

As to why the ministry gave permission in the first place to wipe out as many as 4,000 trees, he said, "We shelved it for some time."

The then Sylhet Divisional Forest Officer Abdul Mabud in a letter to the Nahar Garden manager in August, 2008 said 3,754 of the total 4,000 trees grew naturally and the rest were planted. The trees had 87,174 cubic foot timber and 75,508 cubic foot of firewood.

The trees included Cham, Gamar, Gorjon, Jaam, Koroi, Bonak, Rongi, Shimul, Awal, Khami, Bolos, Lud, Belpoi, Dumur and others.

Khushi Kabir, chairman of Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), said tree felling on this scale would adversely affect environment, life and livelihood of the local indigenous people. "Forest area in Bangladesh is already very low compared to requirement," she said.

Bapa General Secretary Md Abdul Matin referring to locals' estimate said even though the tea garden has a lease for 864 acres of land, it is on over 1,200 acres of land including 200 acres of Khasia community land.

The garden owner has been realising money by sub-leasing 100 acres of the leased-land in violation of the terms in Bangladesh Tea Management Directory, alleged Bapa Member Secretary Sharif Jamil.

The owner has realised a total of Tk 2 crore illegally in the form of land tax since 1984 from the Khasia communities, said Md Abdul Matin.

Deputy Commissioner of Moulvibazar Mofizul Islam said Khasia community is dependent on the trees for their livelihood by the betel leaf cultivation. He received no complaints about realising tax from the community, he said.

There are around 60 Khasia families in two Khaisa Punjis--Akilam Punji and Kailin Punji--in and around the garden.

The tea garden's manager Pijush Kanti said they needed to cut the trees to expand the garden by 60 acres every year. On realising tax from the Khasia, he said they do not do that anymore but the previous owner used to do it.

Government resumes initiative to conduct land survey in CHT violating CHT Accord

Source: PCJSS

Following the recent communal attack on Jumma villagers in Baghaihat and Khagrachari by Bengali settlers with the support of military forces, government of Bangladesh resumed initiative to conduct land survey in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban hill district of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).

As part of this initiative, Land Ministry called an inter-ministerial meeting at the ministry in Dhaka on 11 March 2010 where Land Minister Md. Rezaul Karim Hira presided over. Land Ministry also invited a representative of CHT Regional Council (CHTRC). However, no representative from CHTRC attended the meeting. Hence the land ministry has failed to decide when the government would begin the land survey in the CHT intended to resolve ongoing disputes over land ownership. Land Minister, however, said he hoped these matters would be finalised at the next meeting in mid-April which was being held in one of the three districts of CHT.

CHTRC sent a letter to Land Ministry arguing that land survey would be contradictory to the CHT Accord if it is done before resolution of land disputes through land commission and rehabilitation of returnee refugees and IDPs as per CHT Acccord.

It is mentionable that the clause 2 of part D of the CHT Accord stipulates, “After the signing the Agreement between the Government and the Jana Samhati Samiti and implementation thereof and rehabilitation of the tribal refugees and internally displaced tribals, the Government shall, as soon as possible, commence, in consultation with the Regional Council to the constituted under this Agreement, the Land Survey in Chittagong Hill Tracts and finally determine the land-ownership of the tribal people through settling the land-disputes on proper verification and shall record theirs land and ensure their rights thereto.”

In violation of this provision the officials of the government have been all the time interested to have cadastral survey of lands in CHT with a view to providing land titles mainly to the Bengali settlers on the lands they forcibly occupied or illegally allotted by the government.

Land Commission issues public notice urging application on land disputes from affected land owners

On 14 March 2010 Secretary of CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Md. Abdul Hamid issued public notice asking affected land owners to lodge application on land disputes with Land Commission. The notice said that application must be filed within 60 days; otherwise no application would be accepted.

Please find the attached notice of Land Commission (in Bangla) for kind information.

It is mentionable that this notice was issued without the decision of the Commission. Since after the appointment of present Chairman of CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission, the only meeting was held on 27 January 2010 in Khagrachari. The meeting was ended without taking any concrete decision.

It is mentionable that the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 was passed by the then Awami League government. However 19 provisions contradictory to the CHT Accord were included in this Acts. These contradictory provisions are yet to be amended so far. Among others, the most importance contradictory provisions are as follows

§ Clause 4, Part D of the CHT Accord contains a provision for settling the disputes of those lands and hills, which have been so far illegally settled and occupied, in addition to settling land disputes of the rehabilitated Jumma refugees. But the Section 6 (1)(a) of the CHT Land (Dispute Settlement) Commission Act 2001 only speaks of the “settlement of the land-disputes of the rehabilitated Jumma refugees”. Consequently, all other land-disputes of the Jumma refugees repatriated from India under the 20-point package will remain unsettled.

§ Section 7(5) of the Act provides, “The Chairman, on the basis of discussion with other members present, shall take decision on consensus on the subjects and other related matters stated under Section 6(1). But if no consensus is reached, the decision of the Chairman alone shall be considered as the decision of the Commission”. This provision of the Act can easily turn other members of the Land Commission into rubber stamps. It will make the Commission an undemocratic institution by empowering its Chairman with a dictatorial power.

In order to amend the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 200, two meeting were held at Land Ministry on 26 August 2009 and 06 December 2009 respectively. But no concrete decision was taken these meetings. However, without amendment of this Act, government is trying to start resolution of land disputes. The land problem of CHT will be more complicated if the government starts resolution of land disputes without amendment of contradictory provisions of the Act. It means that the Government of Bangladesh is not yet prepared to amend the Land Commission Act and to resolve the land disputes at all.

Rights group calls for UN intervention over “Genocide of Bangladeshi Buddhists by Muslim settlers”

Source: Blogosphere

url: http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/rights-group-calls-for-un-intervention-over-genocide-of-bangladeshi-buddhists-by-muslim-settlers/

The U.S. media pretty much ignored the mass killings of women and babies by Muslims in Nigeria last week, so it’s no surprise to find out the same thing is happening in Bangladesh, and it is never reported in the media. From the Hindi weekly, Organiser, A call for UN intervention Genocide of Bangladeshi Buddhists by Muslim settlers:

KOLKATA: Brutal killings of hapless Chakma Buddhists living for centuries in Chittagong hill tract and burning of of their houses and pagodas by powerful gangs of Muslim land mafias in Bangladesh on February 19-20 have evoked sharp reactions from Kolkata’s Bengali intelligentsia. It is these intellectuals who are the main source of inspirations of the general people in West Bengal who are now determined to vote out the present Left government in the next Assembly elections slated for May, 2011. The same intellectuals lent their full support to the Campaign Against Atrocities on Minorities in Bangladesh (CAAMB), a human rights organization, at a meeting in Kolkata Press Club on March 3 and asked the Indian government to intervene. They unequivocally condemned unprovoked killings of 10 Buddhists Chakma villagers attempt to grab their land and houses. The intellectuals have described the ghastly incident as an attempt to sabotage the friendship treaty signed between Bangladesh and Indian governments recently.

According to intellectuals like Tarun Sanyal, Debabrata Bandopadhyaya and Sujat Bhadra, who were present at the press meet, apart from killings of 10 poor Chakmas, at least 200 houses in 11 Chakma villages were burnt to ashes by marauding goons on the night of February 19. At one point during the clash, the military personnel started firing indiscriminately on fleeing Chakma villagers only to help encourage attacking Muslim settlers. Chittagong is Bangladesh’s only district having a significant Buddhist population. Army was called in after a pagoda and an office of a UN-funded project were set on fire. A statue of Lord Buddha installed at the Banani Buddhist Monastery was damaged and another statue was looted. Enraged Chakma villagers prevented Dipankar Talukdar, the minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts and other senior administration officials from visiting the remote Gangaram Mukhi area of Bagaichhari upazila on February 21. Chakmas demanded immediate withdrawal of 400 army camps from Chitagong hills alleging that Bangladesh army personnel are actually helping outsiders to settle in Chakma villages by grabbing their land and premises.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has demanded the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Navi Pillay to ask Bangladesh government to take appropriate action on the burning of tribal Buddhist villages and indiscriminate killing of tribals by the Bangladesh Army and illegal settlers. “This attack on the indigenous Buddhist people shows that the government of Bangladesh has failed to change its policy of indiscriminate killings of tribal and minorities win order to occupy their lands and implant more illegal plains settlers instead of implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997,” stated a Chakma tribal representative present at Kolkata Press Club. There have been many attacks on Buddhist and Hindu villages since 1997 in Bangladesh which have now become occupied by Muslim villagers and landowners. Many critics call this a genocide of non-Muslim minorities by neighboring Muslim villages.

Just like in the Nigerian slaughter, accusations of the local Army actually helping Muslim attackers. All the more interesting as the Oregon (USA) National Guard and Bangladesh military leaders recently participated together in a State Partnership Program.

BD Army raped two Jumma women: Blogosphere allegation

Source: CHT News Update Blog
Url: http://chtnewsupdate.blogspot.com/2010/03/two-jumma-women-raped-by-army.html

Two Jumma women are alleged to have been raped by army in Matiranga in Khagrachari district. The victims have been identified as Barun Bala Tripura (30) wife of late Jala Kumar Tripura and Kalpana Tripura (30) wife of late Shashindra Tripura. Both of them hail from Shonkhola Para village in Matiranga.
The rape of the two women comes one day after the whole world celebrated 100th International Women’s Day on 8 March.
According to sources, on the day of incident, 9 March, the victims went to a jungle near Toikatang army camp under Matiranga zone to collect sun grass.
Around 9AM six army personnel led by Sepoy Habib (known as dariwala or bearded one) from the camp caught and raped them for 4 hours in the jungle.
Around 1pm some Jumma villagers, who were passing by the same jungle, saw the army personnel dragging and pulling the two women.
The women screamed for help and the army men were forced to let them go when they saw the villagers.
The camp commander Mehedi was not present in the camp when the incident took place. He went out on a duty to Matiranga bazaar, putting Kamal in charge of the camp.
Following the incident, the Matiranga zone commander visited Toikatang camp and called the local village elders to a meeting where he threatened them not to publicize the rape.
Ms Renu Bala Tripura, a member of Guimara Union Council, confirmed the incident and accused the army of a cover-up.
“The army is putting pressure on the village elders not to publicize the incident.” she said.
HWF Vice President Nirupa Chakma strongly condemned the rape of the two Tripura women and urged the government to bring the culprits to justice.
“As long as the army and the settlers are there in the CHT, there will be a perennial threat to the security of the Jumma women.” she said.

Respect indigenous rights

Source: The Daily Star News

Fakhruddin Ahmed

Photo: Wahid Adnan/ Drik news

IN Bangladesh, a nation with limited land and unlimited population, land grabbing by the mighty has assumed alarming proportions. Every village has stories of the powerful enlisting the assistance of goons to grab lands from the poor and the hapless -- lands that the poor had owned for generations.

Laws in Bangladesh tend to favour the criminal and the powerful, and penalise the law-abiding and the weak. An innocent person can be cast into jail in Bangladesh only on a criminal complaint, whereas a criminal convicted on several counts of murder, but with powerful political connections, can be free on bail ad infinitum. No nation can prosper unless laws apply equally to every citizen.

Utter lawlessness has descended on the Chittagong Hill Tracts since the third week of February. By all accounts, and according to reports published in The Daily Star, violence and death have been triggered by the illegal land grab by the Bengali settlers, sometimes aided and abetted by local army personnel.

Many Jumma indigenous people have been killed, several more injured, and many of their dwellings have been set on fire by the Bengali settlers. Bengali settlers, too, have suffered deaths, injuries and arson in retaliation, although much fewer in number. The 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Accords delineates certain areas as indigenous land; Bengalis have absolutely no legal right to settle on or grab those lands.

Of all the districts allotted to "East Pakistan" during the partition of India in 1947, the Chittagong Hill Tracts had the fewest number of Muslims -- less than 2 percent of the population. Buddhists constituted 85 percent of the population, followed by the Hindus (10 percent) and animists (3 percent). While the rest of the "East Pakistanis" were ethnically homogenous (Bengalis), the Jumma, or the indigenous people, were different -- they belonged to the mongoloid race.

The writer was fortunate enough to attend Faujderhat Cadet College, which had a few Jumma students. It was a revelation! The Jumma students looked different, spoke in a different tongue, ate different food, and their songs, religion and culture were totally different.

As a part of Faujderhat Cadet College's Outward Bound and Adventure Camp, the writer made his first trip to Rangamati as a seventh grader in 1959. We swam in the Karnaphuli river, were feted to a sumptuous lunch by Raja Tridiv Roy, and we all fell in love with a gorgeous Chakma girl named Jayasree, after her beautiful rendition of Lata Mangeshkar's immortal Bengali song: "Banshi Keno Gai, Amare Kadai…"

Underneath all the fun and festivities, there was an undercurrent of sadness. We were repeatedly told that the "old" Rangamati was going to be under water soon, and that our subsequent camps would be in "new" Rangamati. Being young and naïve, we were wondering: how could the natives be happy if their town was going to go under water soon?

Sure enough, catastrophe hit the natives in 1961 when the Kaptai dam was opened! Vast areas of the pristine forest and native households went under water forever. The natives lost their ancestral homes of generations. It is doubtful that they were consulted or compensated by the Pakistani government who constructed the dam.

It is now generally acknowledged that such hydroelectric dams are of marginal benefit, but are ecological disasters. After fifty years, it is now time to rethink the wisdom of keeping the Kaptai dam functioning. If the dam could be dismantled, Bangladesh would be able to recover about 1 percent of its land, and restore some of the lands to its rightful Jumma owners.

Over the years, as population pressure built all over Bangladesh, more and more Bengalis started settling in the Hill Tracts. Many of us who saw the injustice of it remained silent. With no political solution in sight the indigenous population resisted, and the Shanti Bahini led an insurgency for twenty years until the Peace accord of 1997. One thought that the matter had a happy ending there, but it did not. Many of the terms of the Accord have not been implemented, leading to frustration, which has triggered the current explosive environment.

The eleven tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts that constitute the Jummas deserve the sympathy and generosity of their fellow Bangladeshis. Land may be in short supply in Bangladesh, but that is no reason for Bengali settlers to illegally grab land that belong to the Jummas. The Awami League government had signed the CHT Accord in 1997. Now that they are back in power, it is their duty to ensure that every facet of the Accord is implemented.

Bangladeshis and the Bangladesh government must honour the agreements they sign. Because, if we do not, the likes of Amnesty International and the European Union will lecture us forever about how naughty we are! I have always been amazed at how much patta or importance we offer to personnel from Amnesty International in Bangladesh. They are treated like celebrities, featured on the front pages of the newspapers, are feted and interviewed like superstars. Yet, all they ever do is criticise us. And we grovel to, and worship them for it! How about some self-respect and backbone for a change?

Whenever the Amnesty International criticises US policies, they are dismissed with utter contempt. Amnesty International personnel are not featured in, or interviewed by The New York Times. Amnesty International is treated as a pariah in Israel, which, in case anyone has not noticed, has been stealing lands from the Palestinians for the last 62 years! If the Israelis ever allowed Amnesty International into their country, believe me they would not be treated like heroes/heroines like we treat them in Bangladesh; they would be castigated for their "bias" towards the Palestinians!

A wrong has been committed against our Jumma brothers and sisters. Let us correct it ourselves. Let us restore their lands to them, compensate them for their losses, and punish those responsible for their suffering. Let us not let foreigners tell us what we should do; let us do what is right ourselves.