Stop attacks on tribals

Indigenous means a people who have been living in a region since ancient times.

According to the famous anthropologist Morgan, the aborigines are the earliest indigenous peoples who have lived in a place since time immemorial and have no special history of origin and settlement.

The Gazette of the Ministry of Culture (March 2019) mentions 50 ethnic groups including Chakma-Marma-Tripura in the hilly region, Garo-Hajong in Mymensingh, Santal-Urao in the northern region, Khasia-Manipuri in Sylhet and Rakhine in the coastal region.
According to official statistics, about 3 million people of different ethnic groups including Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Garo and Santal live in Bangladeshwhich is about 2 percent of the total population of the country.

Indigenous people make up about 5 percent of the world's population and about 15 percent of the world's poor. These indigenous peoples speak about 6,000 languages and have about 55,000 distinct cultural diversity.

According to the United Nations, 400 million indigenous people live in 90 countries around the world. Most of them are deprived of their rights. Indigenous peoples have not been recognized in many countries.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 49 | 214 in 1994, declaring August 9 as "International Day of Indigenous Peoples" and calling on member states to observe the day. Indigenous peoples are specifically mentioned in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 with the slogan 'No one is left behind'.

There are many differences between tribes and tribals. Being a tribal does not mean that they are indigenous.

The word aboriginal is not used anywhere in the constitution. According to Article 2 of Article 7 of the Constitution, the people of this country will be identified as Bengalis as a nation and as Bangladeshis as citizens. Besides, those who are other than Bengalis will be known as tribes, small ethnic groups.

Tribes are those who are socially, economically and culturally different from the main population of a country and have their own traditions governed by culture and law in whole or in part. Judging by this association of ILO, it can be seen that Chakma, Marma, Garo, Santal and other ethnic groups of Bangladesh are tribes.

The debate over whether the small ethnic groups living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and various parts of the plains of Bangladesh are indigenous is very old. According to all the historical, ethnographic and archeological analysis, none of the tribal people of Bangladesh has been living in Bangladesh since time immemorial.

All of them have entered Bangladesh from outside world especially from India and Myanmar at different timesnot too long ago.

They entered Bangladesh from India and Myanmar only a few hundred years ago. All the 13 tribes living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are foreigners and immigrants. The small ethnic groups living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts migrated here between the 16th and 17th centuries.

A few days ago, the crops of Lakum Mro Para, Joychandra Tripura Para, Renyan Mro Para were set on fire. Zum's crops, orchards have all been burnt to ashes, and about half a hundred families in three villages are starving. The locals complained that the people of the rubber company had set fire.

Of course, there are grounds for this allegation. On March 20, residents of these three neighborhoods staged a sit-in and protest in front of the Bandarban district administration office to protest the land grab by Lama Rubber Industries. At the rally, Langkam Mro, a trader from Langkam Para, alleged that the rubber company had occupied about 300 acres of their land.

Earlier, in November 2020, the construction project of 'Marriott-Chandrapahar Resort and Amusement Park' in Chimbuk Hills, Bandarban, threatened the lands and zoom crop lands of about 10,000 people of Mro community. The project was put on hold due to the strong protests of Mroes and the support of conscious citizens across the country in their movement.

On November 6, 2016, Santals clashed with locals during the eviction of Santals from the disputed site of a sugar mill in Gobindganj, Gaibandha. At that time the miscreants set fire to the Santal settlement. That incident has not been judged yet.

Economist ProfessorAbulBarkat, in his research paper entitled 'Political Economy of Unpopulated Indigenous Peoples: The Case of Bangladesh', says, "Twenty-six years ago, the proportion of indigenous people in the CHT was 75 percent. Now it is 48 percent. Over the last three decades, the number of tribals in the area has been declining and the number of Bengalis has been increasing.  The hills are lost. The land-forests and the imported settler Bengalis have seized it with the connivance of the rogue bureaucratic administration. In his research, he showed that in the last 64 years, 2, 2,174 acres of land belonging to 10 small ethnic groups in the plains have been confiscated at a cost of about Tk. 10,000crore.

Indigenous peoples have been attacked, their houses have been looted and women have been tortured. But most of the time these incidents were not judged. These crimes are increasing day by day due to the culture of impunity.

These tribals are also citizens of Bangladesh. They also have the right to enjoy all the benefits of the country. But that is not happening. The concerned authorities should take appropriate steps in this regard. Otherwise the plight of these people will not be alleviated.
Sukanta Das, Student, Islamic University, Kushtia