Call to ensure rights of indigenous people

The Daily Star
December 27, 2008
Staff Report

Khagrachari: Leaders of United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) yesterday called on the government to recognize indigenous people constitutionally, ensure their rights to lands and language and stop repression in the name of security personnel's operations in the CHT areas.
They said this at a discussion on 'One decade of UPDF in CHT' at Tribal Cultural Institute (TCI) in the hill town with UPDF central committee member Dhruva Joyti Chakma in the chair.

The leaders said no governments have yet taken any initiative to solve the CHT crisis permanently. They always repressed and oppressed the indigenous people in the name of some operations, including operation Uttaran. They further said that a section of security forces shelter outsiders for grabbing indigenous lands in CHT. They think that by grabbing indigenous land and snatching mother tongues, they would abolish the sign of indigenous people from CHT, but they would never succeed till the last drop of blood.

To ensure the rights of tribal people, UPDF and its front organization Pahari Chhatra Parishad and Hill Women's Federation were formed on December 26 in 1997 and are still fighting against all odds and injustices, they added. They further said that it is high time the people should identify and elect their own man.

Secretary of UPDF central committee Robi Shankar Chakma, its members Animesh Chakma and Robi Shankar Talukder, Hill Women's Federation President Sonali Chakma and UPDF candidate Uzzal Smrity Chakma spoke at the programme.