Who are the real indigenous people of Bangladesh?
A.M.K. Chowdhury
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, "We are the only
Adivashi/indigenous people in Bangladesh. Tribal people who live in
here came to Bangladesh after a long time our ancestors came. So, we
are the true indigenous people of Bangladesh." She said this while she
and foreign minister Dipu Moni met the United Nations secretary
General Ban Ki-moon during the 66th UN General Assembly meeting at the
UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2011. Ban Ki-moon then
said to Sheikh Hasina for fun, "It is not an easy matter that Dr.
Momen your permanent representative to UN0 is an indigenous man, as
reported on September 25, 2011 in a Bangladsh daily.
Earlier on July 26, 2011 Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told diplomats and
journalists that the minority people living in the CHT (Chittagong
Hill Tracts) were 'tribal' and not 'indigenous'. She also said that
CHT people were 'asylum-seekers' and Bangalis are the true indigenous
people of Bangladesh. She further said that all minorities were
recognised generically as minorities in the Constitution and through
the 15th amendment, the present government has catagorised them as
'ethnic minorities' and no longer only as 'tribal' people, as reported
on August 12, 2011.
There are some 14 ethnic minorities in Bangladesh. They are known as
Chakma, Marma (Mogh), Larma, Jummas, Tippra, Murong, Panko, Kyong,
Mro, Tangchangya, Bomang, Lushai, Kuki, Khumi etc. all of whom are of
anthropological interest. Each tribe has its own dialect. By religion,
most of them are Buddhists, but there are also animists. Buddhists are
next to Hindus in respect of population.
According to a news report dated October 24, 2009, there are huge
mineral resources such as urenium, China clay, coal, lime stone, oil,
gas and eight kinds of mineral sands. These are yet to be explored.
The CHT was divided into 3 districts namely Rangamati, Khagrachari and
Bandarban on April 18, 1981. Rangamati covers an area of 6,088 square
kilometers, Khagrachari 2,590 sq. kilometers and Bandarban 5,402 sq.
kilometres.
Some non-government oranisations (NGOs), missionary groups, Human
Right activists, Parbayta Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti or PCJSS,
United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), Bangladesh Adivashi Forum and
some other organisations demand constitutional recognition to these
tribal people as "indigenous people". Jyotindra Bodhipriya Larma alias
Santu Larma, President of PCJSS and also the President of Adivashi
Forum, demanded their recognition as "indigenous communities" instead
of ethnic minorities in official records, as reported on August 7,
2010. The UPDF opposed 'imposition' of Bangali nationalism on ethnic
minorities and demanded for dropping the provision from the 15th
amendment to the Constitution to protect their described identity of
the ethnic population in the CHT. Mention may be made here that Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman urged the tribal people to become Bangalis to forget
the colonial past and join the mainstream of Bangali society. But they
did not obey the then Prime Minister. These people want to identify
them as aboriginals to make Adivashi homeland in the CHT and to
seperate it from Bangladesh like East Timur from the Muslim majority
country Indonesia.
India interested to separate CHT
Subir Bnowmick, BBC representative of Kolkata, India, wrote in his
book titled 'Troubled Periphery Crisis of Indian North East' that
India is interested to separate the CHT from Bangladesh, as reported
in a prominent daily of Dhaka on March 20, 2010. Captain Sachin
Karmaker, International Secretary of Minority Congress Party, wrote a
letter to the Director, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of America
on July 27, 2007 to help them to establishing a separate homeland for
ethnic minorities in the CHT, as reported on August 25, 2009. But the
CHT is part and parcel of Bangladesh.
Ethnically, linguistically and historically they cannot be identified
as aboriginals or indigenous people. They are not the 'sons and
daughters of the Soil'. The aborinals are the groups of human race
"who have been residing in a place from time immemorial… they are the
true sons of the soil… ( vide Morgan, An introduction to Anthropology,
1972.)
Before 1673 A.D. there was no Chakma tribe in Chittagong. Shermonta
Khan, a leader of Chakma tribe came from Arakan in 1673 A. D. while he
was defeated in a battle with the Arakan king. After that Chakmas came
here Group wise.
Marmas or Moghs came here in 1784. Bomang settled in the CHT during
the seventeenth century. Murong, Mro, Kyong, Panko and Kukhi came here
about 200 to 300 years ago. Besides, some tribal people such as
Khasia, Monipuri live in Sylhet, Garo at Mymensingh, Santals, Orang
and Mundas at Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Bogra and Rangpur. They are not
aboriginals. They came here about 100 to 200 years ago during the
British regime to work at tea gardens and cultivation. Santals came
from Choto Nagpur of India for 'indigo' cultivation, says a news item
dated July 2, 2011.
There is no proof that tribal people of Bangladesh are aboriginals
like Red Indians of America. Almost all the tribal people living in
the CHT came from Tibbet, Arakan and Myanmar. They cannot be reconised
as indigenous people instead of ethnic minorities. They are ethnic
minorities by any definition.
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