DOCUMENT: BANGRESP.TXT
THE BANGLADESH PRESENTATION TO THE (UNITED NATIONS)
WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
On Friday 2 August 1985 in Geneva
In Reply to the Submissions made by The Anti-Slavery Society
and the representative of the Chittagong Hill Tracts,
Ven. Agga Vansa Mahathera.
Madam Chairperson,
I feel personally privileged to be able to make this
intervention when you are presiding over this important Working
Group dealing with Indigenous populations. The eminent qualities
which you bring to your post are well known and we have every
confidence that the Group's work will benefit immensely from your
impartial, constructive and rich leadership. In fact, like many
other delegations we also believe that one of the foremost
responsibilities of this Working Group consists in evolving
standards relating to the rights of indigenous populations. The
broad approach which you have tried to follow so far in conducting
the work of this Group has positively contributed towards this
end.
The Bangladesh delegation is, however, dismayed and amazed to
note that in the course of general debate in this working group
efforts have been made by some to divert this body from its basic
purpose and to convert it into a chamber of complaints or a
tribunal in individual instances. Attempts have thus been made to
present before the Working Group baseless allegations regarding
the current situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in my country.
These attempts to tarnish the image of my country through a
deliberate misrepresentation of facts is unprecedented in its
nature and hardly consistent with the professed sincere
humanitarian vocations of those who have actually made them. The
Bangladesh delegation has, therefore, no hesitation in rejecting
them.
Madame Chairperson,
May I in this connection convey to you the position of my
government on the whole gamut of issues relating to the situation
in Chittagong Hill Tracts which, I hope, will help the Working
Group to appreciate the existing situation in that area in it
proper perspective. But before doing that I would like to
reiterate our well known stand that any attempt to define the
people of Chittagong Hill Tracts as indigenous populations is not
only erroneous but is also based on arguments having very scant
respect for scientific reasoning. It is the considered view of my
delegation that in defining the indigenous populations practical
insight should be derived from the historical experience in those
countries where racially distinct people coming from overseas
established colonies and subjugated the indigenous populations.
No such situation ever existed in Bangladesh where the people
coexisted through recorded history with complete communal harmony.
The factual situation is that the entire population of Bangladesh
falls under the category of autocthon and should be described as
such in any objective analysis.
In fact, if any attempt has ever been made to isolate the
tribal people in Bangladesh from the main-stream of life in
Bangladesh it was the attempt made during the colonial period by
the then authorities who tried to deny the tribal people the
benefits of modern communications, agricultural and industrial
development and other developmental activities. Colonial
authorities also tried to isolate the area for strategic and
security reasons. After the emergence of Bangladesh, this
artificial separation was rejected politically as well as legally
for practical considerations and for the benefit of the people in
the area. The people in the area were guaranteed equal access to
law and economic opportunities irrespective of residence or of
tribal affiliations. They participated in national elections and
held important posts in successive national governments. Only a
few months ago that is in May this year, the people of Bangladesh,
including the entire population in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
participated in electing Upazila Chairmen, the elected head of the
local administration, in a peaceful atmosphere on the basis of one
man one vote.
My delegation naturally fails to understand the allegations
made by some in this august body regarding programmes and actions
of my government in the area particularly the allegations implying
that the policies and programmes of the Bangladesh government have
led to uprooting of the local people. These allegations are not
corroborated by fact nor do they reflect the existing reality in
the area. In fact, any movement of people to and from the
Chittagong Hill Tracts is comparable to normal intra-regional
migration in any other country and by no way assumed, at any point
of time, an overwhelming proportion so as to cause perceptible and
substantive harm to local people. The movement of people to and
from this area into other areas in Bangladesh is also perfectly
consistent with the basic human rights of all citizens of
Bangladesh including the Tribal people who have unrestrained right
to freedom of movement.
I may here also stress that contrary to what has been alleged
by some in this Working Group the basic objective of the
enlightened policy of the Government of Bangladesh has always been
to improve the quality of life of the people of Chittagong Hill
Tracts and to assist them in their endeavour to accelerate
economic development. This is reflected in many initiatives
undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh. In addition to the
normal development activities within the framework of the Annual
Development Plan, the Government of Bangladesh has thus formulated
and is assiduously implementing a Special Five Year Development
Plan for the Chittagong Hill Tracts area with a total outlay of
Tk.2,630 million (about US$100 million) for which special
budgetary provision has been made outside the normal Annual
Development Plan. The genuine desire to help the people of
Chittagong Hill Tracts reflected in these special efforts have an
added significance as these efforts are being made at a time when
Bangladesh is faced with a very critical situation with respect to
availability of resources to be employed in different priority
areas.
In addition to allocation of additional resources, the
government of Bangladesh has also undertaken the appropriate
administrative regorganisation and provided necessary framework to
promote developmental activities in the area. The government has
thus divided the Hill Tracts Region into three administrative
districts, namely, Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban with a
view to achieving all-round development in the administrative,
socio-economic and cultural fields. Fruitful collaboration has
already been initiated with the Asian Development Bank, an
international agency for the rehabilitation of the tribal
population. With a view to developing human resources, the
Government has sanctioned funds for construction of Schools,
Colleges and students' hostels in Chittagong Hill Tracts to
promote education. Besides, seats have been reserved in the
Engineering University, Agricultural University, all other
Universities, Medical Colleges, Colleges and Polytechnic
Institutions for the tribal students from this area. Certain
percentage of all categories of posts, including the highest
category in government services have been reserved for eligible
tribal people.
It has also been decided to create a "Special Economic Zone"
comprising certain areas of the hill Tracts for over-all agro-
economic development. Special facilities and incentives have also
been provided in the form of customs and tax relief, exemption
from sales tax on imported capital goods, reduced rate of interest
on band loans and tax holiday. As a consequence of these steps,
the Chittagong Hill Tracts area have been witnessing unprecedented
developmental activities during the recent years benefitting the
tribal people residing in the area. It cannot be that those who
have spoken about the situation in Chittagong Hill Tracts are
unaware of these developments. What surprises us most is that
although they profess to be impartial and objective and espousing
the cause of economic and social wellbeing of the people of the
area they have chosen to omit any reference to positive
developments now taking place in the area.
We were also surprised at the deliberate attempts made in
some of the statements to represent in a distorted manner the law
and order situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Totally
baseless and preposterous allegations have thus been made about
so-called atrocities perpetrated in the area. We cannot but
reject these allegations categorically. Such insinuations lead us
to believe that there is some basis in thinking that the tribal
people are being fomented by certain foreign agencies. In this
connection it was worth noting that in this august forum on Human
Rights attempts were made to inject extraneous political elements
amounting to interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign
state which has nothing to do with humanitarian considerations
relating to the people in the area.
At the risk of being repetitive I may here underline the fact
that the basic policy of the security forces in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts has always been to ensure peace and security in the
area and to ensure the rule of law for the benefit of the common
people. There has been no attempt on the part of the government
to coerce people in any way and the government has been trying
relentlessly to improve conditions for all round social and
economic development. The Government has also announced a general
amnesty for the misguided elements. These measures have been
widely welcomed and even the most neutral of observers have
recognised their positive impact. Following this amnesty more
than 3000 misguided elements have returned to the fold of lawful
activities and are pursuing peaceful professions as law abiding
citizens. This development by itself speaks of the confidence now
reigning in the area amidst local people about the government
policies. Finally, peaceful elections in my country held barely
two months ago to elect the heads of the local administration on
the basis of universal adult franchise in which the people of the
Chittagong Hill Tracts participated enthusiastically also
convincingly exposes the real character of the allegations made
before this august body about the situation in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts and their total irrelevance in the present day context.
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