BREAKING NEWS: High Court issued show cause on Election Commission to explain why denial of registration to Pahari/Jumma/Adivasi political parties should not be deemed illegal. The judgment came in response to writ filed on behalf of UPDF by Advocates Idrisur Rahman & Protikar Chakma. Thanks to all activists, journalists & lawyers who supported this issue.
Chittagong Hill Tracts & The Missing Pahari Vote
by Naeem Mohaiemen [DAILY STAR, December 1, 2008]
Buried under the raja-raja war over elections is news of the permanent ulu-khagra . I first saw the tika item in Shamokal: in a list of political parties denied registration, two names in bas relief. UPDF (United Peoples Democratic Front) and PCJSS (Parbotto Chottogram Jonoshonghoti Samity), the only two large political parties representing the rights of the Pahari (Jumma or Adivasi) people of Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Chittagong’s regional paper Shuprobhat Bangladesh (27/10/08) first carried detailed news about this denial of election registration. Among mainstream newspapers, only Ittefaq (29/10/08) seems to have picked up the news. And there the matter will peter out. Or will it?
2007 marked the tenth anniversary of the non-implementation of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord. In the CHT, the anniversary was marked by a continuing crack down on political dissidents, not only members of indigenous political parties (PCJSS and UPDF), but also civil society representatives and NGO workers. The year saw a continuation of the long-term policy of ethnic displacement in the CHT (bringing Bengali settlers from elsewhere and displacing indigenous Jumma people), a trend that accelerated during the five years of BNP-Jamaat government. At the same time, a few positive signs emerged: BLAST lawsuit regarding district judges’ court, first meeting of CHT advisory committee in seven years, and the appointment of Raja Devashish Roy to Ministry of CHT Affairs. But now I wonder, was it all eyewash.
The 1997 Peace Accord that ended Shanti Bahini’s twenty year autonomy insurgency shows very few signs of implementation. Vital clauses that have remained unimplemented by the two political governments include activating the Land Commission, withdrawal of all “temporary camps” of Army, BDR, APBn (Armed Police Battalion), and handing over of full control of local civil and police administration to three hill district councils. The one Peace Accord clause that has been settled is the setting up of district judges’ courts in 3 hill districts to clear a backlog of over 25,000 cases . This followed a writ petition at the high court by BLAST. The verdict, delivered by the high court, instructed the government to set up district judge’s court in all three hill districts. Another development was the CTG’s decision to call a meeting of the CHT Affairs Ministry Advisory Committee, the first such meeting after a five year gap during the BNP-Jamaat government. At the same time, militant pro-Bengali settler group “Parbottho Shomo Odhikar Andolon” (The Hill Equal Rights Movement) continued to harass Pahari populations with the knowledge and support of local authorities.
In a disturbing new development, a writ was filed in 2007 in the High Court by Advocate Md. Tajul Islam, a member of the Jamaat e Islami, challenging the constitutionality of the 1997 Peace Accord. The case has been filed against various Government Ministries, but interestingly did not include any of the CHT based institutions or Pahari leaders. Later, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council and the Rangamati Hill District Council petitioned the Court to become parties to the writ. In their response to the Court, they argue that the democratically elected National Parliament passed four laws ratifying parts of the Peace Accord: Parbattya Chattagram Ancholik Porishad Ain, 1998 (Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Act, 1998), Rangamati Parbattya Zilla Sthaniya Sarkar (Shongshodhon) Ain 1998, Khagrachhari Parbattya Zilla Sthaniya Sarkar (Shongshodhon) Ain 1998, Bandarban Parbattya Zilla Sthaniya Sarkar (Shongshodhon) Ain 1998. They also argues that reservations for “tribal persons” of particular posts is fully mandated under Articles 28(4) and 29(3)(a) of the Constitution and also by the State’s international treaty obligations.
Advocate Tajul Islam’s writ, filed at a strategic moment, has already accomplished what may be its main objective– inclusion of Bengali settlers in the Pahari voter list for the December 2008 national elections. In response to this petition, a Division Bench ruled in August 2007 that until the writ is disposed, the Election Commission should not differentiate between permanent and non-permanent residents in CHT while registering voters. This would mean that Bengali settlers who have been brought to CHT as part of government policy of ethnic displacement would be able to vote in the area — permanently dismantling the one-time numeric majority of the Paharis, with lack of representation at all levels of administration and public life. This can be interpreted as undermining the 1997 Peace Accord and the Hill District Council Acts of 1989 (Acts Nos. 19, 20 and 21 of 1989), which provide that only permanent residents of the respective Hill Districts can be enlisted as voters on the electoral roll for election in the respective Hill District Councils. In a straight vote, without separate seat allocations for the Pahari vote, Bengali candidates would likely win many (if not all) the seats of the CHT. Thus Bengali “elected” politicians will decide the life and future of Pahari people, undermining all their struggles for self-representation. I can only expect an acceleration of the Bengali settler policy. Slow motion ethnic cleansing.
It is inside this context that we look at the EC’s decision to deny registration to UPDF and PCJSS. It penalizes the Pahari people for participating in the “democratic process”, telling them they do not have the right to have regional political parties. Among the reasons stated by EC, as reported by Ittefaq, the parties have been denied registration because they lack offices and committees in ten Zilas and fifty Upazilas. There are several other “technical” reasons given as well, but let’s just stay with this one. Chittagong Hill Tracts has a total of three Zilas! Based on this logic, a regional party representing indigenous people would never be able to contest national elections– now or in the future.
In a writ petition currently filed on behalf of United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), each of the EC’s arguments for non-registration is refuted. But legal arguments are not sufficient to sway the courts. One government official I spoke to said politely, “there is not enough time to reverse the decision.” Ah, but there has been time to make so many other changes, so many times, each one at the final hour.
We have seen many rules being bent over the last six months (and even now) to accommodate the unending demands of the political parties. But those are for Bengali politician, right? At a recent “progressive” event in support of baul statues, heroic speakers got on stage and shouted “fascist forces be warned, we are all Bengalis, we are united.” Even the “left” is in oblivion that there are people other than Bengalis living inside these borders. From 1970s onwards, Adivasis have been force-fed a diet of “Be Bengali”, the song stays the same. Less than zero, frozen out of bare life, and now locked out of the elections. My Vote is My Right, says the smart baseball cap now on Dhaka streets. Not for everyone.
An abbreviated version of this text was published in the Daily Star.
of course, the english medium lot along with their ngoic mates should play a vital role in pahari-national politics. God forbid any solidarity with any other political start-ups out of principle. eg the also denied Islamic Democratic Party.
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Fug, I’m Bangla Medium (St Joseph SSC 85, Dhaka College HSC 87) and I’ve never worked for an NGO. For last two years, was at a FOR-PROFIT technology start-up in Dhaka. But keep on with stereotypes, they’re good for a laugh.
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Videos available online…
http://uk.youtube.com/user/sum76
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Fantastic. So glad to see Tanvir Mokammel’s CHT documentary online. Wonder if it’s with his permission though.
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Do the proto islam inspired parties that failed to make the EC’s grade get such moral indignation?
(im more interested in an enabling environment for new parties than denigrating a particular oppressed people.)
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Fug, I work on CHT issues. When CHT political parties get blocked from elections, I will write defending their rights, as I have done before.
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Thank you naeem for writing about the subject. we feel, No one interested( out of Jumma people) to write and think about this. thanks again for solidarity.
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Tnx naeem for the great show, do keep it live!!!
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Sal, I only wrote the op-ed. Real ground-level work was by Sara Hossain, who assisted with draft of writ, Advocate Idrisur Rahman and Advocate Protikar Chakma who filed the writ, the UPDF member who put his name on the writ, Zafar Sobhan who made sure the op-ed was published, Daisy Chakma and many others who raised this issue in media, Santu Larma who talked in seminars about being denied registration, etc. This ruling is a symbolic victory. In practical terms, the EC will probably run out the clock until it is too late to do anything. If they do any last minute accommodations, they will do it for BNP/AL not for puchko, non-Bengali UPDF/PCJSS. However, it is on the public record, and in the future a new government may be forced to reverse this decision in long term. Even small symbolic victories matter.
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Thanks Naeem for your contribution. We hope it would not be only for a few mements.
We have seen many write up, but later they have gone to oblivion because they were awarded and they had sold their soul! Do you want an example? That is the`revered! Mr. Humaiun Azad. Who wrote ‘Pahare Hingsar Jharnadhara’ after military sponsored visit to CHT.And He U-turned from his earlier wirte up. We pitty him. He saw the CHT situation with birds eye view and sold his soul by only getting a fly with Helicopter!
I don’t think the other one would follow him.
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Naeem, what happens if the parties that opposed, and still oppose, the peace accord wins the election? What happens if this is a direct result of 3 seats going to the 4-party alliance, 3 seats that could go to AL without the Pahari parties in the field?
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Jummo, I don’t like helicopters.
Jyoti, That’s an interesting argument, but we can’t legally deny Pahari parties the right to have their own candidates. We can certainly argue about strategy, but EC shouldn’t be denying registration based on the 10 district argument.
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Dear Prime Minister Fakhruddin Ahmed,
You have been entrusted with the great responsibility of taking care of our country, Bangladesh, as it moves towards a peaceful and democratic government. All over the world our eyes are turned to you as you fulfill the tasks necessary to
complete the journey to election day.
This act, of voting within a democracy, undertaken by citizens in every thana across the country, is a shared project. Everyone has the right to participate in it, and to choose freely the person who will represent their best interests and those of the whole nation.
What can you do to ensure that every voter has that right upheld – that they can freely choose their best representative ? How easily can you, as Prime MInister of the Caretaker Government, protect that right of the citizens of your nation ? What small steps, for example, can you take to ensure that all bona fide political parties are registered with the Electoral Committee so that voters truly have their freedom to choose upheld in a meaningful way ?
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, both the PCJSS and the UPDF, the parties of the Jumma people indigenous to the region, have been excluded from registration by the EC.
What can you do, in the approach to election day, to ensure that all voters in the CHT, including Jumma voters, have the freedom to vote for their chosen candidate, including candidates from the UPDF and the PCJSS ?
We would urge you to take whatever steps are necessary to uphold that freedom,and to ensure that both the PCJSS and the UPDF are fully included in the electoral process . Voters who choose to vote for either of these parties have a democratic right to choose their electoral representative. We note and support UPDF’s recent writ petition against the decision of the EC.
It is within your means to show the world that Bangladesh is indeed a democratic nation. Take that small step- include two bona fide political parties, the only two operating on a Jumma mandate, on the electoral register. And allow all your citizens to choose. This is democracy. You have our full support in this crucial project.
Yours,
Joyoti Grech
CHT Indigenous Jumma Association Australia.
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The Army of Nannyechar Zone are checking all of the market goer in the middle path of the market.
report got at 8.34 am on 14th December,2008
A human rights activist in condition of annonimyty told that Army of the Nannyechar Zone are checking all of the market goer. The Army are asking the market goer to show their National Identity Card and even are registering their name in the register book. Even when they are returning Army personal are asking to show the ID Card.
It to be noted that Nannyechar Army zone is situated in the middle path of the Market. Most of the Market Goer must have to face the checking mainly the Ethnic national minority peoples are facing the checking. Because their is no non ethnic minority residence outside of the Army camp.
It is very much harrassing for the Jumma people. Conscious people even asking that when the Government are going to ease the Emergency rule in the whole country, why in CHT there is military checking is begining?
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