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News
No. 61/2012, Saturday, August
11, 2012
RABI
SHANKAR CHAKMA, general secretary of the United Peoples’ Democratic Front
(UPDF), in a statement today urged the government of Bangladesh
to refrain from using the term ‘Adibashi’ (indigenous) as a political football
and ratify the UN declaration on the rights of the Indigenous peoples.
He
said an artificial and useless debate has been initiated over ‘Adibashi’ with
the aim of depriving the ethnic nationalities forever of their due rights and
creating confusion about their just struggle.
‘By
whatever terms a nation identifies itself – be it tribal, Adibashi, ethnic
minority, small nation or nationality, ethnic group or Janajati – they are all
indigenous peoples in the eyes of the United Nations. Therefore, in the
perspective of the international law it is useless to debate whether there are
indigenous peoples in the country or not, or whether the peoples of ethnic
nationalities are indigenous or not.’ he added.
The
UPDF leader alleged that the non-Bengali ethnic peoples living in the country
from time immemorial have been reduced to second class citizen status through
the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to the constitution.
He
further said: ‘The government, first of all, must acknowledge that there are
ethnic peoples other than Bengali and then give them the right to
self-determination, the right to land and the right to practice, preserve and
promote their own culture.’
In
granting these rights it is quite immaterial whether these ‘other peoples’ are
indigenous or non-indigenous, he said.
Rabi
Shankar Chakma took the government to task and said: ‘Although the Awami League
raised a hullabaloo about ‘Adibashi’ before assuming power in 2009, it is now
banishing the word from books and documents and installations much the way a
magician vanish his eggs in a performance; it is as if by doing this the
government will be able to wipe out the existence of the ethnic peoples and
then rid itself of the responsibility of giving them their rights.’
Mr
Chakma urged the government to do away with all deception, double standard and
skullduggery and establish the just rights of the ethnic nationalities on the
basis of national equality.
He
also called for the government to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, a move he said would greatly enhance the image of Bangladesh
in the comity of nations.