Stern movement needed to protect ethnic minorities: Activists

The country's ethnic minorities should take to the streets with a strong concerted movement to protect their communities and habitats, said social rights activists at an event. 

Bangalis should also join the struggle of the country's ethnic minority groups to ensure their rights, they said at a discussion on the problems the minority groups are facing regarding their ancestral lands. The discussion was organised by Bangladesh Adivasi Forum in the capital on Monday.

Mesbah Kamal, a professor at Dhaka University, said, "Efforts are underway to obliterate the ethnic minorities from the country by denying them any kind of recognition. We have to challenge this situation. The role of our ethnic groups in the country's Liberation War and democratic struggle should be highlighted."

"A list was made by the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs some 15-20 years ago, where it was seen that land had been allotted to people of different professions. Almost half of the land problem in the hilly areas will be solved only by cancelling these allotments and returning the lands to their original owners," he added.

"You [ethnic minorities] have to take to the streets and demand [your rights and land] with all your strength. You do not have documents because of the customary method of ownership transfer. So, raise the demand for the necessary paperwork for you to be made. Connect with everyone and demand the implementation of whatever laws you have in your favour," Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) said, adding, "We have to fight for it."

Writer and journalist Sohrab Hasan said, "The country that came into being in 1971 could not become a country for everyone. It has become a country for Bengali speakers. And constitutionally, it has become a country of Bengali Muslims who are the majority here. We have to make it a country for everyone. Not only ethnic minorities but all of us have to join this movement, otherwise it will not be possible to protect their rights."

"The Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission was formed almost two decades ago but it could not settle a single land dispute. Just as Pakistan suppressed and denied the rights of Bengalis, Bangladeshis continue to suppress and deny the rights of the ethnic minorities," Sohrab added.

Khairul Islam Chowdhury, a sociologist and professor at Dhaka University, said, "Lands [of the ethnic groups] are being invaded and occupied because of the totalitarian nature of capitalists. Aggression against ethnic minorities and their lands continues in Bangladesh despite it being a multi-ethnic country."

General Secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Sanjeev Drong said, "We adivasis [ethnic people] are not demanding heaven for ourselves. We only want our human rights; we want the right to our lands. In the coming days, adivasis and Bengalis will form a movement to realise this demand." ***