On withdrawal of troops from CHT

Hanufa Shamsuddin and Jyoti Rahman

Published by the New Age on 29 October 2009.

The underlying cause of tension in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is the reality of continuing discrimination faced by the region’s indigenous peoples in terms of the ongoing land encroachment and eviction, often in the name of development (eco-parks, plantations, construction of infrastructure), discrimination in access to justice and protection of the law.

Our Politics of Dispossession

Naeem Mohaiemen

Published in the Forum on February 2009

When talking about human rights, complacent analysis comforts us with nostalgic notions like: “Bangalis have always been egalitarian/secular/(insert favourite value).” But in the context of life in a subcontinent with too many people fighting for too few resources, legal infrastructure is far more important than attitudes and social norms.

Within this context, there are certain laws that stubbornly stay in place. In some cases, this is because political parties consider them to be useful future tools (Special Powers Act). In other cases, it is because questions of patriotism and security are considered off limits to debate (anti-terrorism laws).

Once we were heroes

Tazreena Sajjad

Published in the Daily Star on 6 Jan 2009.

IT is upto you, my Bengali and adivasi brothers and sisters, to save our country. It is your turn now.” These were the words of adivasi Bir Bikram U.K. Ching speaking at a function in his honour. It was organised by Shuddhoi Muktijoddho, a private initiative created by Lt Col (Retd) Sajjad Ali Zahir, Bir Pratik, to honour the contributions of the adivasi community in the liberation of Bangladesh.

U.K. Ching’s journey from near obscurity to recognition is one that should give the nation pause. There is little information about his contributions in the war and hardly any documentation about this gallant hero in official records.

Between ashes and hope

Naeem Mohaiemen

Published by the Daily Star on 24 Dec 2008.

IN Dighinala, the lead Jumma (Pahari) speaker switches to Bangla after the initial Chakma greeting. As I film the crowd, I can see scattered Bengali faces. Later I ask one organiser if speaking Bangla is a way to appeal to Bengali voters. “Yes,” he replies, “But don’t forget, not all Paharis speak Chakma.” Chakma, Marma and Tripura are the biggest presence at these meetings, but the official records show eleven different ethnic Jumma groups in Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In this last election week, jumping on the candidate’s ramshackle jeep (with prodigious horse power on the up-slope) is the easiest way to get around. I had taken a ride with the vehicle belonging to Ujjal Sriti Chakma, independent candidate running with support of UPDF. As we move between locations, I note the language changing.

Analysing The Election: Minority intimidation and electoral bigotry

Jyoti Rahman and Syeed Ahamed

Published in the Daily Star on 14 December 2008

MOST of us uncompromisingly show a conscious disgust against bigotry when it comes to foreigners — be it some racist acts of foreign cricketers or Barack Obama facing a negative campaign during the US election. When our expatriate friends and families tell us their experience of racial intimidation, we listen to them with utter shock and question: How can people be so bigoted? And then we have a content, self-serving feeling — at least we Bangalees are not bigots!

But, aren’t we? Is bigotry only about skin colour? What about religious, ethnic, gendered, class or regional discriminations? Our bigoted face probably gets the ugliest when the election comes.

Analysing the Election: Deprivation or abstention?

Jyoti Rahman and Syeed Ahamed

Published in the Daily Star on 12 December 2008

IN our last two pieces (published in these pages on Dec 4 and Dec 7), we focused on centres with incredibly high voter turnout. While the high turnouts point to irregularities, significantly low voter turnouts may also be problematic, particularly in the context of alleged deprivation of minority groups from casting their votes. This is the focus of the current piece.

Before moving on to this issue, we should also flag a concern about the availability and accuracy of public data. Regrettably, the Election Commission does not expose the centre-level data to broader public domain, making the analysis difficult. We believe there can also be some misprints in the available data. For instance, unbelievably high turnout in Sharanpur GPS in the then Jessore-5 constituency may very well be a typo either by the Election Commission or by the NDI who compiled the data and made it available. To avoid using possibly incorrect figures, we will avoid drawing conclusions from single centres.

Where is the Conscience of Our Nation?

Tazreena Sajjad

Published in the Forum (June 2008 )

Why speak up about things that don’t seem to affect you? Silence is, after all, protection. When demanding accountability and seeking dignity can be slandered as “anti-state activity,” it is better to save one’s skin by not raising one’s voice.

Yet silence connotes another message — compliance, and more wretchedly still, agreement. In the end, the politics and psychology of fear, compounded by our ability to disengage based on what is “us” and “them” robs us of our conscience. And we seem to accept without censure or question, what we give away — our consent.

A cloud of silence in Bangla Town

Naeem Mohaiemen

Published in the Forum (August 2007) 

“They have always been here”- the writer’s journeys to the heart of the Bombay Bangladeshi community

Bombay. Mumbai.
Contested name, conflicted ethnography.
Some friends (Indian leftists) still hold on to the old name, a solitary act of defiance against soft Hindutva.

Bombay. “Maximum city” that leaves me craving, by comparison, the “cleaner” air of Dhaka. It was towards the end of the BJP’s horrific tenure (their shock defeat still a pipe dream for Indian progressives), and I was visiting a friend who was in Bombay writing his novel. After days of bemoaning the specter of militant Shiv Sena workers, I decided go exploring the town.

Death by thousand committees

Naeem Mohaiemen

Published Daily Star, May 22nd

In the end, this is what it takes to create an inquest. When a case of torture and murder involves an Adivasi activist it needs two months of sustained national outrage, a petition signed by hundreds, and many alert notices from groups like Human Rights Watch to finally push the government to appoint a one-person committee to probe Choles Ritchil’s death. How much headway the investigator can make, with limited resources and mandate, in investigating a volatile case, is still hazy.We have seen many committees in our times, they can unfortunately also be used to mothball controversy. A call to a lawyer friend unearthed at least three effective commissions in recent times: BGMEA investigation into Spectrum collapse, Shamsunnahar Hall attack commission (headed by Justice Tofazzel Islam), and Rubel killing commission (headed by Justice Habibur Rahman Khan). The Rubel commission even came up with guidelines for cases involving arrest without warrant.

Unfortunately, kangaroo commissions outnumber effective ones. These are the commissions that never publish results (counting on public outrage to die down), or come out with “findings” that are surreal and ineffective. In the former category are commissions that investigated incidents like the abduction of Kalpana Chakma. In the latter are inquiries into massacres like the one at Logang (headed by Justice Sultan H Khan). Then there are commissions that come up with wishy-washy, non-conclusion conclusions. The August 21st AL rally bomb blast investigation concluded, via reports leaked to the press, that it “could be foreign involvement” (specific, substantial, and actionable!).