Statement by Prajnalankar Bhikkhu:CHT Needs Imminent UN Intervention



United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues(UNPFII)5th Session, 15-26 May 2006, UN HQ, New York

Thank you, Madam Chairperson, for giving me the opportunity to speak on the agenda item.
Distinguished members of the UNPFII, government delegates, representatives of UN agencies and NGOs, and indigenous sisters and brothers!
Madam Chair, I am a Buddhist monk belonging to the Jumma indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
I am, by this time, supposed to be practicing meditation in a monastery, a solitary place, or in a deep forest in my country for Nirvana or salvation rather than sitting inside this UN building in busy New York City. Madam Chair, this is, however, not the case, because I cannot think of Nirvana when the land beneath my feet is taken away, when our monasteries are surrounded by, and threatened with, the Jihadi activities of Bangladeshi military and Al-Qaeda type Islamic fundamentalists and terrorist groups, when our forest and forest-resources are robbed and stolen, and when our mothers and sisters live every moment in constant threat of being kidnapped, raped and murdered.
Most of the worlds’ states are in the process of integrating the lessons learnt from the UN Permanent Forum (PF) into their national legislations, policies and programs to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples and to ensure the survival of their identity and culture. However, having observed the dealings of the Bangladesh government with the indigenous peoples back home, we are convinced that Bangladesh participates in the PF, not for sharing experiences and learning, but for gathering intelligence reports about the activities of Bangladeshi indigenous representatives at the PF. In this context, Madam Chair, I would like to remind you of the Bangladeshi action which blocked the participation of our leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriyo Larma in this forum in 2004, and of how the government tried to summon the indigenous representatives and impose a ban on their foreign trip for making statements, that government stated are “anti-Bangladeshi propaganda”, at the PF in 2005. Such behaviors violate our fundamental right to freedom of speech and our right to participation.
Madam Chair, what the government is doing with the indigenous people in the CHT is a clear case of systematic ethnic-cleansing and genocide. The situation of the indigenous people is very complex and horrible. It demands Darfur-like UN intervention for protection and security of the indigenous people.
The Peace Campaign Group, therefore, thinks that the Future Work Plan of the PF should ask governments like that of Bangladesh to stop their genocide on indigenous peoples and initiate dialogue with them rather than resorting to rhetoric and lies and to mislead international forums like the PF on their policies and actions relating to indigenous peoples.
Thank you Madam Chair, for your kind attention!