Unheard Voices

Photograph for TIME by Helen Kudrich

Time throws off its pretense and ignores Fakhruddin alltogether in its new feature on Bangladesh and goes to the real decision maker. The quote speaks for itself below and gives you a context of some of the very policy of crash and burn that has so backfired until now.

The government has made no promises about when it will lift the emergency. Shying away from democratic commitments, Moeen is far more eager to talk about building effective leadership in Bangladesh and educating its vast, illiterate masses — as he himself puts it — “so that they don’t keep on cutting off their own feet.” Such a tone is fitting for a man who styles himself the redeemer of his country. “You can judge the people of a nation by the type of leaders they select,” he concludes. Most Bangladeshis are wondering when they’ll really get that chance.

Read the complete piece here

In the meantime, if you want to meet one of these “vast”, “illiterate”, “docile”, self destructive, too kind for their own good and dumb voters, meet Nazima Akter profiled in Washington Post.

On June 12, 1996, Jumma rights activist, Feminist, and leader of Hill Women’s Federation of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Kalpana Chakma was kidnapped in middle of night. Jumma activists charged that the operation was led by Lieutenant Ferdous, commander of Kojoichari Army camp, (currently Major Ferdous, commander of Laxmichari Army camp, Baghaichari Thana). An international hue & cry ensued, with appeals by Amnesty International and many others. The Army attempted a cover-up.

Jumma activists called strikes in the hills, and Bengali settlers attacked Jumma rallies. Four Jumma were killed by Bengalis in ensuing clashes, but even after a manhunt her body was never found. On the 12th anniversary of her disappearance, Jumma & Bengali activists are holding a series of events, discussions, publications, newspaper articles to bring attention to the case. They vow to use this anniversary to continue the campaign for full rights of the Jumma people of CHT

1. Mithun Chakma: Make Inquiry Report Public
2. New Age/12th Anniversary Report: Read Online or Download
3. Samari Chakma: Word Doc or PDF (Bangla)
4. Kabita Chakma: Word Doc or PDF(Bangla)
5. Jummonet: Kalpana Chakma
6. Drishtipat: CHT History Archive
7. Shaher Zaidi: The Vanishing
8. Audity Falguni: A Decade since Kalpana Chakma’s Abduction

[an edited version of this op-ed appeared in DAILY STAR, June 13, 2008. Here we present the original article]
The Vanishing
by Shaher Zaidi

Headlines from our tragic past and grim future: The Daily Star, 1 July, 1996: DU students urge govt. to rescue Kalpana Chakma; 5 July: Abduction of Kalpana Chakma: Home Ministry probe demanded; The Independent, 15 July: 12 human rights bodies call to rescue Kalpana Chakma; Bhorer Kagoj: 6 July: It is a mystery that there is no govt. effort to rescue Kalpana; Janakantha: 21 July: Rescue Kalpana; Bhorer Kagoj: 23 July: Demands for discussion on Kalpana in Parliament; Sangbad: 19 August: Kalpana’s mother: HR Commission lying, I want my daughter back.

June 12, 1996. I want my daughter back. This many years later, I still wonder why Kalpana’s widowed mother opened the door. Did she have a choice? Is it ever an option for a Jumma in Chittagong Hill Tracts to refuse to open the door when guns, voices, and search lights are on the other side. (more…)

In a major army reshuffle, Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury, Principal Staff Officer to the Armed Forces Division, has been transferred to National Defence College as its commandant. Lt Gen Zahir has been transferred from NDC to Ambassadorship, although the Dhaka rumor mill says he has refused the posting and asked for retirement.

Last February’sstory on Lt Gen Masud Uddin.
Tacit’s update on internal army struggle.
Rumi Ahmedprovides a primer.
Gen Moeen meets President.
And who in the army is behind the recent arrests of political leaders?

From Rahnuma Ahmed op-ed:
“Between 1979 and 1983, Bangladesh’s military rulers sponsored migration of Bengali settlers into the Chittagong Hill Tracts. An estimated 500,000 plains settlers were provided land grants, cash and rations.”

“Things are very different now. Now you may find some Bengalis going to CHT, they are following their family members. That is not settlement. How can one stop that? It sounds nice, the only problem is that it isn’t true.”

“The army has affirmed that such incidents will not be tolerated, that peace and communal harmony must be maintained at all costs. Such affirmations ignore history. It makes nothing of tales of killings perpetrated by Bengali settlers and security forces.” (more…)

[Pahari Students Defy Emergency To Protest On DU Campus]

DOWNLOAD: Fact Finding Team 2 (Sara Hossain led)
DOWNLOAD: Fact Finding Team 1 (Moshrafe Mishu led)
REPORT: Ain Salish Kendra 2007 Annual Report
REPORT: Hana Shams in Star
REPORT: Shamima Binte Rahman in Shamokal (Bengali, Scroll down to 3d item)
OP-ED: Zubeida Nasreen on Region Unrest
LAW: Peace Treaty Challenged in Court, Court Rules Against Treaty
REPORT: Life Is Not Ours
REPORT: Bangladesh Watchdog
ALERT: Jumma People’s Network
OP-ED: Sachalatayan (Bengali)
HISTORY: 390,000 Bengali Settlers (2005)

[Korea Protests] (more…)

Funny how we notice different things at different times. I visited Kolkata in January 2000. It was after I had finished masters and had little care in the world. After 6 weeks in conservative Dhaka, I enjoyed the nightlife around Park Street and New Market. And of course there were the bookshops. But political economy of defence - this i didn’t care about.

I was in Kolkata eight years later this February, not for holiday, but nor was political economy why I made the trip. But hey, it’s hard to stop thinking about that stuff.

(More at Mukti)

A very angry post from Dhaka Shohor that makes some poignant points.

—-

Yeats should have sailed to Bangladesh.

For in Bangladesh, the old in one another’s arms dance on the bloodied corpses of the young.

I speak not only of “cowardly liberals” such as our twin editors, who seem to have sacrificed a man each to save their own political hides. Whereas they should have been leaders, voices of experience and bulwarks of strength who sheltered the more adventurous of their flock – Mohammad Arifur Rahman and Tasneem Khalil – they have instead proven themselves to be sell-outs and sycophants through not just their “sacrifices” but also their silence.

No, I come not to speak only of these so-called progressive voices of a decrepit generation with suitably unoriginal, decrepit ideas. I speak also of other older, more honourable men. Men who vow to keep us safe, where “us” equals every person who inhabits our green land. Men who send our finest and bravest to battle. Men who have taken on young men and women to fight for their land and are responsible for their safety.

After a generation of INDOCTRINATING our young army personnel against India as opposed to TRAINING THEM TO THINK about countering India’s influence meaningfully, I see the most honourable of men travel to Delhi. The Bangladeshi media reports sycophantically on it. The Indian media talks about “joint exercises” aimed at eradicating the Indian North-East of “rebels” and “terrorists”.

Now unlike Mr. Farhad Mazhar, whose write-up on the topic I appreciated highly and urge everyone to read for its section on the Bay of Bengal gas blocks issue, I am not about to make emotional appeals that go like, “Our army is doing India’s bidding!”. Joint exercises are not doing anyone’s “bidding” and, if our army is to become/remain well-trained and have a global outlook instead of the parochial one that pervades it, such exercises are positive. I will not make such emotional appeals.

(more…)

On March 25th, Ain Salish Kendra (ASK) released the 2007 Annual Human Rights Report. In the Chapter on CHT Paharis and Flatland Adivasis, following 7 topics were covered. On March 27th, the CTG announced a removal of the ban on mobile phones (item # 4).

1.Death in Custody: Eco-Park activist Cholesh Richil
2.Racial Profiling: Army Operations, Ranglai Mro, DANIDA kidnapping
3.Right to Property: Bengali settlers and land grabbing
4.Right to Information: Continuing ban on mobile phones, limited reporting on CHT
5.1997 Peace Accord: Continuing Non-implementation
6.Legal Challenge to Peace Accord
7.Voter List implementation in violation of Peace Accord (more…)

Hassan Ariff says NSC is coming. We are approaching end times
National Security Council will be formed: Hassan Ariff

Thu, Mar 20th, 2008 8:31 pm BdST
Dhaka, March 20 (bdnews24.com) – The caretaker administration is considering forming a National Security Council to tackle law and order issues and national disasters, law adviser AF Hassan Ariff said Thursday. Potential members of the council include the president, the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and representatives of the armed forces, the adviser told reporters in his land ministry office. Ariff, who is also land adviser, failed to say when the national security council might come into being. “The matter is being discussed. No draft proposal on the formation of such a council has reached the law ministry or the cabinet from the home ministry,” said Ariff. The adviser, however, confirmed the Truth Commission would be formed in a month: “It seems that the Anticorruption Commission does not have any reservations about it.” The Truth Commission, also known as the ‘accountability commission’, is intended to facilitate legal investigations and trials. bdnews24.com/ahd/ehb/my/am/2000 hours

High Court Judgment to Set up Civil and Criminal Courts and Suppression of Violence against Women Tribunals in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

The High Court on 24th Februart 2008 directed the Government to set up three separate civil and criminal courts and Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Domon (Suppression of Violence against Women and Children) Tribunals in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban Districts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, as soon as possible, and no later than one year from the date of judgment.1

The judgment was given in a writ petition filed in 2006 by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and others, on behalf of the peoples of three hill districts, seeking directions upon the Government to give immediate effect to existing laws which provide for the establishment of such courts in the CHT and to implement the constitutional mandate for separation of the judiciary .2

It is hoped that implementation of this judgment will address the acute crisis regarding access to justice in the CHT. Reportedly over 3,500 cases from the three districts have been lying unresolved before the Chittagong Session Judge’s Court for many years. Hundreds of people in the Bandarban district alone have been languishing in prisons without facing any trial due to the existing backlogs and the lack of any accessible forum to hear their cases.

Background

The judicial system of the three districts which formerly comprised the Chittagong Hill Tracts — Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban – was earlier governed by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation 1900, leaving the executive in control of all judicial functions. Further, no District or Sessions Judges’ Courts were ever been established in the three Hill Districts, the Chittagong-based Additional Divisional Commissioner, being an executive official, dispensing judicial functions in the cases.

(more…)

Asian Centre for Human Rights reports on the spiralling crisis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, including the new High Court Ruling that seeks to dismantle the 1997 CHT Peace Treaty that brought an end to the 30 year guerilla war for autonomy in that region.

The direction of the High Court on 27 August 2007 to the government of Bangladesh to explain as to why the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord of 1997 signed with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) should not be declared “illegal” has come as a shot in the arms of the military. The two-judge bench comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury has already set aside certain provision of the Accord by directing the authorities to allow the illegal plain settlers who were implanted into the Chittagong Hill Tracts to register themselves in the voters’ list.

Full report here:
http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2007/182-07.htm

By
Zubeida Nasreen

Translated by
Tazreena Sajjad

[ Drishtipat Writer's Collective has been successfully publishing op-eds in two major English dailies in Bangladesh almost on a weekly basis. A second front of this collectives work is to translate important Bangla columns into English and make it available for a wider global audience. Here is one such effort by collective member Tazreena Sajjad. Tazreena translated a Daily Shamokal article on recent Hill Tract Kidnapping and have permission from the author to publish it here. ]

Information about incidents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is not easily accessible. Many things taking place there remain unknown to the majority of the Bangladeshi population, or remains impossible to be made public despite existing discourses that we have access to. Thus far, we have used the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a “punishment transfer zone” for government officials, an act paralleling banishment of those disapproved of by the British Empire to the Andaman Islands.

This was the case with the police superintendent Kohinoor Mia, who was directly associated with heinous acts during the last days of the coalition government. He was transferred to Rangamati, but the local population refused to accept his office. Why should this region be
used only for the transfer of individuals guilty of criminal acts? Why should the people of this region suffer the so-called services of those with corrupt records?
(more…)

Signs are ominous.

The blanket acceptance the present military backed caretaker government has enjoyed is fraying at the edges. The uprooting of small shops and other so-called “illegal occupiers” in the drive against corruption has left a lot of people disgruntled. The total suspension of political activity, as I wrote earlier, is also troubling. Unaccountability and arbitrary behaviour is not going to do the current dispensation any favours. In this context, news from the CHT - a special area in every way - needs careful consideration. And this morning, an email flew in from CHT News with some disturbing news.

More here at Shafiur’s site