Alienation of the Lands of Indigenous Peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Alienation of the Lands of Indigenous Peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh Shapan Adnan Ranajit Dastidar This book deals with the forcible takeover of the lands of the indigenous peoples of the CHT. Based on fieldwork research among both Pahari and Bengali groups, the book has four chapters, concerned with different aspects of the study. Chapter 1 introduces the research and describes how it was undertaken. Chapter 2 deals with the CHT Accord of 1997 and the failure to implement most of its important clauses in a substantive manner. It also takes account of parallel social and demographic changes in the CHT occurring outside the framework of the Accord, the results of which may be very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. Some of these trends bypass the provisions of the Accord and could potentially make it irrelevant. Chapter 3 provides detailed analysis of the numerous mechanisms of land alienation in the CHT. The roles of different government and private agencies are analysed with empirical evidence, including sixteen case studies. Various Bengali interest groups are also found to be grabbing the lands of poor Bengali settlers, reflecting intra-ethnic and classed-based dimensions of land alienation. The growing significance of commercial land grabbing for rubber, timber and horticulture plantations, driven by profit-oriented capitalist production, is highlighted. These constitute elements of global land grabbing, indicative of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ under contemporary globalization and neoliberal capitalism. Chapter 4 undertakes policy analysis concerned with the prevention of further alienation of Pahari lands as well as the restitution of their already occupied areas. Price: Bangladesh Taka 300.00, US$ 20.00 Authors Shapan Adnan graduated from the University of Sussex and obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge. He has previously taught at the National University of Singapore and the Universities of Dhaka and Chittagong. He completed this research while holding a visiting research fellowship at the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme of the University of Oxford. Shapan Adnan’s research interests are broadly in the fields of political economy and political sociology. He has worked on topics including agrarian structure and capitalist development, power and resistance among the peasantry, indigenous peoples and ethnic conflict, critiques of flood control and water management, as well as determinants of fertility and migration. He has published in academic journals and edited volumes, and has written several books including Migration, Land Alienation and Ethnic Conflict: Causes of Poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. He is a member of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission. Contact email address: [email protected] Ranajit Dastidar has studied economics at the University of Chittagong and obtained a PhD in political economy from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Besides experience in commercial banking and NGO programmes, he has been involved in many socio-economic research projects and evaluation studies. His research interests include: impacts of technological innovation and the nature and extent of capitalist development among traditional fishing communities; forms of marginalization of indigenous peoples; and changes in the social organization of production of rural communities. His email contact: [email protected] Cover Design: Taj Mohammod IWGIA IWGIA IWGIA CONTENTS Preface ...........................................................................................................................ix Acronyms......................................................................................................................xii Summary......................................................................................................................xiii Map 1: Districts, Road Networks and the Kaptai Lake in the Chittagong Hill Tracts................................................................................xxxvii Map 2: Upazillas (sub-districts) of the Chittagong Hill Tracts............................... xxxix Map 3: Fieldwork Sites of the Land Study in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ....................xli CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY ........................................................................1-13 CHAPTER 2: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHT ACCORD AND PARALLEL TRENDS DURING 1997-2010 ...............................................................................15-33 CHAPTER 3: MECHANISMS OF LAND ALIENATION IN THE CHT...................................35-108 CHAPTER 4: POLICY ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................109-180 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................181-186 iv Alienation of the Lands of IP in the CHT of Bangladesh DETAILED CONTENTS Preface ix Acronyms xii Summary xiii Map 1: Districts, Road Networks and the Kaptai Lake in the Chittagong Hill Tracts............................................................................... xxxvii Map 2: Upazillas (sub-districts) of the Chittagong Hill Tracts............................... xxxix Map 3: Fieldwork Sites of the Land Study in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ....................xli CHAPTER 1 1-13 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1 THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS OF BANGLADESH...................................... 2 The Indigenous Peoples of the CHT...................................................................... 2 UNDERLYING CONSIDERATIONS AND RATIONALE ..................................... 4 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 6 TIMETABLE, APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY............................................. 7 SCOPE AND LIMITS OF THE STUDY ................................................................. 12 LAYOUT ................................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 2 15-33 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHT ACCORD AND PARALLEL TRENDS DURING 1997-2010 15 THE CHT ACCORD OF 1997 ................................................................................. 15 IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF THE CHT ACCORD...................................... 19 Implementation Committee for the CHT Accord................................................ 20 Hill District Councils........................................................................................... 21 CHT Regional Council ........................................................................................ 21 The Task Force for Rehabilitation of Returnee Refugees and IDP............................. 22 The Land Commission ........................................................................................ 23 Holding of a Cadastral Survey before Settlement of Land Disputes ................... 26 Overall Status of the CHT Accord by 2010......................................................... 28 Contents v PARALLEL PROCESSES AND TRENDS IN THE CHT DURING 1997-2010........ 28 Demographic Growth and Re-composition ......................................................... 29 Attitudes of Bengali Interest Groups towards Landed Property in the CHT ....... 30 New Policy Initiatives by the Government.......................................................... 31 OVERALL TRENDS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS............................................... 31 CHAPTER 3 35-108 MECHANISMS OF LAND ALIENATION IN THE CHT 35 EVOLUTION OF PROPERTY SYSTEMS AND LAND RIGHTS IN THE CHT .. 36 Introduction of Private Land Rights in the CHT ................................................. 39 Changes in Laws of Entry, Residence and Eligibility for holding Land in the CHT. 41 Transmigration of Bengali Settlers and Forced Redistribution of Pahari Lands . 42 The Political Context of Land Grabbing after the Peace Accord ........................ 43 Different Types of Land Laws and Forms of Land Grabbing in the CHT........ 44 ACQUISITION OF CHT LANDS BY AGENCIES OF THE STATE ..................... 45 Procedures of State Acquisition of Land in the CHT .......................................... 45 Actual Outcomes of the CHT Accord and HDC Acts on Powers of the DC Office 46 FOREST DEPARTMENT: LAND ACQUISITION FOR AFFORESTATION PROJECTS... 48 Village Common Forests..................................................................................... 55 INSTALLATIONS OF THE SECURITY FORCES ................................................ 57 Taking over Pahari Lands without following due Acquisition Procedures ............. 57 Formal Land Acquisition for Installations and Projects of the Security Forces .. 58 REDISTRIBUTION OF PAHARI LANDS TO BENGALI SETTLERS DURING THE COUNTER-INSURGENCY ........................................................................... 61 Strategy of Demographic Engineering ................................................................ 61 Continuation of the Counter-insurgency Strategy during the post-Accord Period..... 62 MANUFACTURE OF LAND TITLES FOR BENGALI SETTLERS..................... 63 Operation of the Special Settlement Zone ........................................................... 63 Partial Withdrawal of the Political Migrants and their Replacement by Local Bengalis .....64 Parallel Process of Allotting Land to self-propelled Bengali Migrants ............... 65 The Long Term Consequences of Land Settlement Documents given to Bengali Settlers in the CHT .............................................................................................

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