HILL TRACTS VIEW: 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

ADDRESSING THE ETHNIC PEOPLE OF CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS

Recognizing tribal people of Chittagong Hill tracts (CHT) as ‘Indigenous People’ has become an important discussion topic in the media, seminars, meeting and other forms of formal/informal discussion/interactions. A great echo is raised to recognize the tribal of CHT as indigenous people during constitutional reforms. Terminologies like ‘Tribal’, ‘indigenous people’, ‘Aborigines’ are loosely and inter-changeably being used by many. This may have been due to the liberal/sympathetic attitude and knowledge gap on the issue. But these recent discussions are likely to develop a wrong perception about the issue in general. It is important to have clear understanding and correct perception on the issue.
‘indigenous and tribal population Convention 107’ is an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention within the UN which was adopted in 1957. Its primary focus is to enable the indigenous and tribal people to benefit on an equal footing from the rights opportunities which national laws grant to other elements of the population. Initially total 27 countries including Bangladesh ratified it, but later 9 countries denounced the same. In 1989, the ‘indigenous and tribal population Convention 169’ was adopted with the purpose of revising the earlier convention of 1957. This convention is articulated based on the idea that indigenous people are the permanent residents of the country/geographical areas as ancestral descendants. So far total 22 countries have ratified this convention, among them Nepal is yhe lone Asian country. Later ‘UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’ was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007 during its 61st regular session. In that, four countries voted against, and 11 abstaining. the four member states that voted against were Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United sates. Bangladesh abstained from voting on the issue.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Kaptai- The Lake Town

A pleasant and picturesque drive of 64 km. from chittagong brings you to huge expanse of emerald and blue water ringed with tropical forest. It is the famous man made Kaptai Lake ( 680 aq.km.) formed by damming the Karnaphuli river. Only 3 km. from Kaptai along Chittagong road, lies the ancient Chit Morong Buddhist temple having beautiful Buddhist status.

Tribal Museum

The only Tribal Cultural Museum in the Hill Tracts region was established at Rangamti Town in 1978 and run by the tribal cultural institute. it preserves valuable objects and articles of different tribes depicting their socio-economic, cultural and historical tradition. these include typical tribal dresses, ornaments, arms and ammunition's, coins, status made of wood, bronze and other metals , musical instruments, ivory products, handicrafts, paintings on tribal life etc.

Three Hill districts

Khagrachari

Bandarban

Rangamati Kaptai Lake

The three hill districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari offer beautiful spots, where nature has been least distributed. Far from the congested, polluted and busy areas of the plains, there scenic and calm spots offer rare opportunities to the tourists. These areas are inhabited by various tribes, who are still very simple, docile and hospitable.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, Tagore’s Golden Bengal, is a young country with a very old history. The musical name evokes thoughts of meandering rivers, lush green countryside, the world’s longest unbroken sea-beach, single largest tea garden in the world, colorful tribal life, remains of ancient civilization and the world’s largest mangrove forest the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger.

The history of Bangladesh is old and eventful. The land always attracted people. the earliest inhabitants were Austro-Asians who were followed by Dravidians from western india and Aryans from central Asia. With the passage of time. there were other influxes. Mongols, Abbysinians, Arabs, Americans and a host of other races joined the Pathans and Turks culminating in the final entry of the English to create one of the most interesting melting pots in this part of the world.