Ministry of LGRD issues a racial letter against indigenous peoples

Submitted by: Kapaeeng Foundation

On 11 March 2012 Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MoLGRD) issued a racial letter against adivasi (indigenous) peoples. Indigenous leaders protested against this racial letter and termed it as fanatic act of the government. They demanded to withdraw it immediately.

The letter titling “regarding celebration of indigenous peoples day” signed by deputy secretary of the MoLGRD Dr. Md. Sarowar Bari was sent to all deputy commissioners (DCs) of the country on 11 March 2012. The DCs forwarded to Upazila Executive Officers (UNOs) and UNOs forwarded to all Union Parishads (UPs), the lower administrative unit of the country.

The letter also stated that in April 2010 a bill named “Small Ethnic Group Cultural Institute Bill 2009 was passed in the parliament. Recently these ethnic communities were termed as small ethnic group in the constitution. On 26 July 2011 foreign minister Dr. Dipu Moni briefed diplomats and development associates that the tribal people of the CHT are not indigenous peoples. The letter also stated that like previous years, this year indigenous peoples are going to undertake several programmes on the occasion of the next indigenous peoples day on 9 August. They may organise adivasi fair, cultural show, seminar, rally and other programmes at different places of the country including Shaheed Minar, Cox’s Bazar and even on electronic media on the occasion of next indigenous peoples day. The national dailies may publish supplementary issue on this occasion. With this backdrop, MoLGRD, in said letter, asked all the dep! uty commissioners-

(a) to issue necessary direction that no important person of the government delivers any speech to be contradictory to the government policy on indigenous peoples during the indigenous peoples day.

(b) to monitor intensively that no support from government side is granted to any programme of the indigenous peoples day.

(c) to take necessary measure to propagate that there is no indigenous peoples in Bangladesh, by collecting necessary information and evidences in this regard.

(d) the month of August is a mourning month, so unnecessary delighting ceremony should not be organised during this month.

Organising secretary of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum Mr. Shakti Pada Tripura said that it is nothing but a racial act of the government. Every citizen has rights to liberty, freedom of assembly and association. Constitution of the country stipulates that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste etc. So, the letter issued by MoLGRD is direct violation of the fundamental rights of the constitution. He also added that Awami League-led grand alliance government is acting more fanatic than the communal and fundamentalist groups.

Chairperson of Kapaeeng Foundation and president of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad Mr. Rabindranath Soren protested against the letter of MoLGRD and demanded to withdraw it immediately.

Video: Islamic zealots unleashes terror destroying Hindu temples and houses at Nandirhat, Chittagong, Bangladesh

Islamic zealots attacked Hindu temple and shops at Hathazari, Chittagong, Bangladesh

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Chittagong, Feb 10 (bdnews24.com) -- Authorities clamped Section 144 banning public gathering at Hathazari on Friday amid mounting tensions after several Hindu temples were vandalised and torched there.

Local people claimed religious bigots of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Chhatra Shibir incited the vandalism and arson of the temples from Thursday evening to Friday noon.

Tensions that boiled over into violence originated Thursday morning following rumours that a mosque had been attacked. Allegations have it that houses of Hindus in the area were also attacked. The leaders of the Hindu minority there blamed the 'indifference' of the administration for the situation.
Another group of people took to the Chittagong-Rangamati road blocking traffic from Nandirhat to Hathazari Sadar upazila around 11am Friday. They also said their Friday prayers on the road.

They alleged a mosque had allegedly been hurled with brick bats from a procession of Loknath Sebashram Thursday morning. The blockaders demanded arrest of those linked with 'hurling brick bats on the mosque'.

After simmering tensions through the day, primary and mass education minister Afsarul Ameen, city Awami League president A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Chittagong Development Board chairman Abdus Salam and city Awami League's joint secretary Ibrahim Hossain Chowdhury Babul went to the area and calmed the agitated locals in the afternoon.

"Tensions mounted following a misunderstanding. Security in temples and mosques in the area has been strengthened and the law enforcers have been alerted," Ameen said.

Chittagong district deputy commissioner Faiz Ahmed told reporters about the ban on public assembly through the imposition of Section 144.

"Police will take action if they see any gathering," he said.

TIT FOR TAT: THE ORIGIN

According to the local people, Hindus in the area took out a procession to celebrate the founding anniversary of Loknath Sebasram Thursday morning.

They used microphone and drums in the procession.

When the procession was passing a mosque, Muslims in the mosque forbade them to drums. At one stage, someone hurled a brick bat on the procession.

An altercation took place at once which turned into chase and counter-chase when someone from the procession responded by throwing a brick bat.

Police organised a meeting between the two parties which was allegedly delayed with ill-intention. A group of Muslims said that the meeting will be held in the mosque and the Hindus agreed.

The meeting started in the evening. Requesting anonymity, several of those who attended the meeting told bdnews24.com that a handful of miscreants vandalised a temple on the Loknath Sebasram premises when the meeting was underway.

They also vandalised seven to eight cars of the temple's visitors.

Puja Udjapon Committee convenor Ashok Kumar Deb told bdnews24.com that someone broke a windowpane of the mosque after the incident in the morning and a rumour that Hindus vandalised the mosque spread in the area.

On Friday morning, temples in the area were vandalised and shops owned by Hindus were torched and looted after madrasa students in the area gathered following an announcement through a PA system.

A bdnews24.com correspondent in Chittagong said he saw tell-tale signs of vandalism in three other temples in the area. They are the Sri Sri Jagadeshwari Ma Temple and Jagannath Bigroho Temple at Nandirhat and Kalibari Temple at Sadar upazila.

The Sri Sri Jagadeshwari Ma Temple was burnt, too.

JAMAAT-SHIBIR BLAMED

Many of the people in the area said a quarter is provoking the incident and Zila Parishad administrator M A Salam pointed the finger at Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.

As the area is only three kilometres away from the Chittagong University (CU), many of the leaders and activists of Chhatra Shibir's CU unit live there.

Moreover, the largest madrasa of the country is located in the area and Shibir allegedly controls it.

200 year old Raghunath Temple demolished by Awami league leader and his guns

To,
Mr A Karim , Principal Secretary to the Hon’ble Prime Minister
Prime Minister’s Office, Dhaka email :

Dear Principal Secretary

We regret to inform you that former Awami League Secretary General and Member of Parliament from Naogaon Mr M A Jalil and his goons has organized vandalism , ransacked and destroyed the 200-year old Raghunath Mandir of Dhubalhati Rajbari under Naogaon district with a plea of constructing so called Mercantile Bank Hospital in that holy place of Temples.
. The heir of the Rajparibar of Dhubalhati Mrs ArunaRoy Chowdhurani filed a representation to Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities ( HRCBM), an NGO in special Consultative Status with the ECOSOC of the United Nations, to raise the issue in the Comity of Nations for violation of Constitutional Rights of religious minority by a ruling party prominent personality. (Representation is enclosed in the attached file)
Mrs Roy Chowdhurani also applied for relief to the Deputy Commissioner, Naogaon , but the local administration could not protect her owing to the political pressure and absorbed the violation of religious minority’s fundamental constitutional Rights and High Court verdict of Status Qua. (Application addressed to the Deputy Commissioner attached in the File), moreover two photographs of demolished Temple cite also appended in the attached file.
OUR COMMENT:
We appeal that the government should open a Cell in the Prime Minister’s Office to listen the grievances of the religious minorities in the country. We have been observing that a few cases of violation of human rights are appeared in the print media. The Local administration in civil and police are ‘Yes boys” of political pressure that declined the image of Government in the mind of minorities.
Minority Community is leaderless rudderless, they may not come down to the street but may turn their faces from Awami League in future, because they are the victim of unequal application of laws and constitutional rights.
The Government should establish rule of law, equity and justice. In Bangladesh, being a Hindu means being a victim of oppression, torture and discrimination. The state failed to provide security to the minorities despite equal rights guaranteed to them in the constitution. The mere holding of periodic elections is not the only yardstick of measuring democracy or health of a society. If gross violation of the economic rights of the Hindu minority is a yardstick, tyranny of the majority rules the roost in Bangladesh.
Any society that claims itself as democratic should have no place for such a discriminatory treatment of ruling party like Awami League. The self-contradictory “State Religion Provision” and “Vested Property Act” compromised making the State pledge meaningless. We have witnessed history over last six decades, we had witnessed hours of joy , pangs of agonies and ecstasy in 1971.
‘Give us the opportunity to realize that you as well as your Government are fully with us in our desire to get our due share in every walk of life. Only then can you, in fairness claim loyalty from us”. We will always remain with the government to uphold the Minorities fundamental Rights in the country.
ONE MORE QUESTION TO BE RAISED HERE:
Bangladesh: Profiles as shown in the US State Department website : www.state.gov depicted the population as Population (July 2009 CIA est.): 156 million. Annual population growth rate (July 2009 CIA est.): 1.29%.Ethnic groups (1998, CIA): Bengali 98%, other 2% (including tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims).
Religions (1998, CIA): Muslim 83%; Hindu 16%; Christian 0.3%, Buddhist 0.6%, others 0.3%. But throughout the decade we are listening the population of non-Muslims below 10 % (Ten percent) whereas , it is 17 % In the CIA records. Will the government of Bangladesh recognize this figure?
We shall be thankful if you kind enough to place the note along with documents attached in the file to the Honorable Prime Minister for her kind perusal and necessary action thereof.
Sd? 24/07/2011
(Rabindranath Trivedi)-
Secretary General , HRCBM

Bangladesh: Land grabbing, raping of indigenous women and religious persecution in CHT continue

Source: Kapaeeng Foundation

Human rights violation including land grabbing, raping of indigenous women and religious persecution continue in CHT unabated. For instances-

Attempt to grab land belonging to Marma community in Manikchari

On 8 May 2011 Bengali settlers attempted to grab land belonging to Marma community at Warkchari of Luklukya area under Hafchari union in Manikchari upazila of Khagrachari district.

It is learnt that on that day in the morning around 10 am a group of Bengali settlers went Warkchari of Luklukya area and started to clean jungle to erect houses. Tension was mount while indigenous villagers opposed them.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Manikchari upazila and a group of military forces rushed there and stopped Bengali settlers from land grabbing.

It is also reported that on that day in the evening Bengali settlers gathered near Jumma villages and attempted to attack indigenous villages. On the contrary, Jumma villagers organised themselves to protect Bengali settlers’ attack.

-------------------------

Attempt to grab 400 acres of land in Lama
In May 2011 Chairman Nuru and Mohammad Shamshu, brother of ex-chairman, attempted to grab 400 acres of lands belonging to indigenous Tripura community in Phaitong Mouza under Lama upazila of Bandarban district. Already, 20 acres of forest belonging to the villagers have been destroyed. When the villagers resisted the move, the land grabbers filed a GD (General Diary) with Lama police station.

It is learnt that in 1980, the district administration leased out 120 acres of land in Phaitong Mouza to a non-resident person Mr. A. A. Sultan Ahmed for horticulture. However, the authorities canceled his lease as per CHT Accord as he failed to use the land within stipulated 3 years time from the date of lease.

Adjacent to the said land are registered and occupancy lands belonging to Tripura and Marma communities of Jaditung Para village.

Mohammad Shamshu, brother of ex chairman Rafiq, and Nuru, chairman of Harbang Union Council, are now trying to capture community Jum land and lands belonging to the Jumma villagers. Besides practicing jum cultivation, indigenous villagers have now taken to horticulture.

--------------------------

Jumma teenager killed after rape

An 11-year old Jumma girl has been killed reportedly after rape in Boalkhali union under Dighinala upazila in Khagrachari district. The victim has been identified as Sunika Chakma alias Milacha, a class three student of Kamokyachara Government Primary School. Police recovered her lifeless, naked body on 13 May 2011 morning near Zia Nagor.

It is learnt that Sunika Chakma went to Shafi’s shop to buy some cigarettes. But she had not returned since then. He mother Kalpana Chakma alleged that Ali Azom’s son Md. Kashem of Zia Nagar often teased her daughter and on 14 April 2011 he broke into their house and attempted to rape her daughter. At that time elders from both Jumma and Bengali communities sat together and settled the issue.

Kalpana Chakma filed a case with Dighinala police station against Kashem and others in this connection under sections 9(3)/34 of the Women and Child Repression Act 2000 on 13 May 2011.

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Army prevents repair works at Buddhist temple in Maischari

Security forces prevented repair work from being carried out at Maischari Arannyo Kuthir, a Buddhist temple in Maischari Union under Mahalchari Upazila in Khagrachari district.

It is learnt that on 16 May 2011 a group of security forces from Bizitola Camp went to the temple and ordered the stoppage of the ongoing repair work. The temple authority was repairing the pedestal of the Buddha statue and the floor.

The land on which the temple was built was donated by Hemanta Lal Chakma in 2006. Two Buddhist novices or sramanas now live in the temple.

-------------------------

GP of CHT Land Commission replaced

Newly appointed Land Commission GP (Government Pleader) Advocate Monjur Morshed Bhuiyan has removed and replaced by Advocate Ashutosh Chakma on 1 June 2011.

It is mentionable that Solicitor Wing of Ministry of Law & Justice Department issued GO vide memo no: 4662/Solicitor/2004(Part-1)-94, dated: 01/6/2011 and removed Mr. Bhuiyan. Removed lawyer was famously known as anti-CHT Accord leader & Bengali extremist. He was also close associates of Bengali settler’s leader Wadud Bhuiyan and Bengali extremist organistion ‘CHT Equal Rights Movement’.

It is learnt that Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs was misguided by Land Commission Chairman retired Justice Mr. Khademul Islam. The name of Advocate Bhuiyan was proposed by Land Commission, Khagrachari office. Newly appointed GP Advocate Ashutosh Chakma confirmed that he got an appointment letter from Solicitor wing of Law Ministry.

Bangladesh: PCJSS, PCP and HWF demand trial of all murder and rape incidents in the CHT

Source: PCJSS

At the protest rally organised separately in Rangamati, Bandarban and Dhaka on 31 July 2011, leaders of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) and Hill Women's Federation (HWF) warned of tough movement if the government fails to ensure punishment to the killers of three indigenous men in Lama upazila under Bandarban district.
It is mentionable that on 30 July 2011 at around 12 noon three indigenous Marma villagers were killed by a Bengali settler at Siletuya Para of Rupashi union under Lama upazila (sub-district) in Bandarban district in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
The speakers also demanded trial of all murder and rape incidents in the CHT. They said that due to continue impunity, indigenous peoples are increasingly becoming victim of murder and rape by Bengali settlers and such heinous human rights violations would not go unabated if the CHT Accord was implemented in full.
They put up a seven-point demand including judicial inquiry and punishment of the killers, providing appropriate compensation for the victims' families, judicial investigation into all such incidents, rehabilitation the Bengali settlers outside the CHT, withdrawal of all temporary camps including de facto military rule ‘Operation Uttoron’ from CHT, full implementation of the CHT Accord without delay and constitutional recognition to the indigenous people as 'indigenous'.
Sexual harassment in July 2011
It seems the violence against women in CHT is intensifying in a very systematic manner. For instances in July 2011-
On 5 July 2011: Alamgir, a Bangali settler attempted to rape a 13-year-old Mro girl in Lama under Bandarban district.
On 27 July 2011: A 13-year-old Jumma girl was raped by a Bengali settler named Abdul Majid in Baghaichari under Rangamati.
On 27 July 2011: A Bangali settler Zakir Hossain attempted to rape an 18-year-old Marma girl while she was on her way home from college. She was saved after she screamed for help.
On 30 July 2011: A 13-year-old Marma girl was attempted to rape by a Bengali settler in Lama under Bandrarban district.
For more media report of Bangla newspapers on Lama triple killing, please visit below link:
Kalerkantho:
http://www.dailykalerkantho.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Islam&pub_no=599&cat_id=1&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&index=0Prothom Alo:
http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-08-01/news/174624

Bangladeshi Hindu temple opens today in Hamtramck

Source: freep.com

Hundreds packed a former union hall in Hamtramck today for the opening of a Hindu temple, reflecting the growth in the community in metro Detroit.

Special prayers were held inside the Bangladesh Hindu Temple, which reopened Sunday after a fire destroyed their previous building in 2006 a few blocks away. In front of an image of Goddess Durga, a priest conducted services followed by a lunch of blessed food and religious singing.

"We feel very good, wonderful," said Hari Dutta, a Troy resident who is president of the temple. "This is very important for us."

The temple was founded by Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country where Hindus are in the minority. Dutta said the membership of the new temple is largely working-class and so it took them some time to obtain a new building and reopen the temple.

"For five years we had no place," said Dutta.

The temple was founded in 2002, but a fire ripped through the building, which was also in Hamtramck. The cause of the blaze was investigated by federal agents, but the cause remains unknown.

Temple members said they want to be able to practice their faith and pass on their traditions.

"We're trying to help the future generations practice the Hindu religion," said Debabrata Dey of Detroit.

The temple is the second Hindu center in metro Detroit that consists of Bengali-speaking members.

"We're trying to keep the culture alive for our kids," said Biswajit Devnath, of Hamtramck. "If we don't do this, they won't know their religion. This is a place where they can come on the weekends."

The building is close to the American Axle manufacturing plant and was purchased from the UAW.

Inside the temple is a colorful display of Durga, considered a female embodiment of the divine spirit.