The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Sunday said that land disputes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts could not be resolved because of the difference
of opinion among the
CHT land commission members.
Addressing the closing session of a two-day conference on land and forest rights of the national minorities at the LGED Bhaban, Shafique also said that the appointment of a new chairman at the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission would not help to resolve the disputes if the commission members were not interested about addressing the problems.
Land commission member Jyotirindra Bodhipraya Larma, widely known as Santu Larma, also the president of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, however, differed on the law minister's remark.
He accused the land commission chairman, Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury, of making unilateral decisions without informing the members of the commission.
Socio-political organisations of the Chittagong Hill Tacts have for long been demanding removal of Justice Khademul on the same allegation.
Shafique also said that neither historically nor
by the International Labour Organisation convention the national minorities living in the country could fulfil the criteria to be recognised as 'indigenous.'
Santu referred to Article 23A of the constitution, as amended by the 15th amendment, which includes the phrase 'small anthropological groups' particularly to refer to national minorities.
Such a phrase does not indicate specific identity as every person fit in the phrase 'anthropological group,' he said.
'I was not a Bengali in 1972. I cannot be a Bengali now and I would rather die,' Santu said as he
spoke about on the 15th amendment to the constitution.
At the same session, Dhaka University's history teacher Mesbah Kamal also differed on the law minister's remark and said historically and by the ILO convention, national minorities fulfil all the requirements to be called 'indigenous.'
Referring to the foreign minister's recent remarks on 'adivasi,' Obaidul Kader, the ruling Awami League's presidium member, said that the people speaking on behalf of the government had lack of experience in defining indigenous and lack in understanding CHT issues.
'The constitution is not the "Holy Quran" that it cannot be changed. Imposition of terms on you [national minorities] will not do any good,' Obaidul said.
The speakers also expressed their concerns about the the absence of the lawmakers who were invited to the conference and termed such absence 'political sickness.'
He said that he had chosen to attend the programme rather than 'pretending sick' because as a ruling party lawmaker he could not brush aside the responsibilities of the 'anomalies' done by the government.
Source : New Age
