BANGLADESH : Chittagong Rights Violation Continues, Says UN

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord has yet to be fully implemented, with human rights violations continuing more than a decade after it was signed in December 1997 says the UN. The accord ended a 25- year low- intensity guerrilla war between 11 indigenous groups (Jumma) and the government and was intended to establish self-governance in this southeastern part of Bangladesh, home to half a million people. However, a recent study by UN Rapporteur Lars-Anders Baer found an extensive military presence and ongoing land disputes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 2010. "When the idea of the study was presented to the UN's Economic and Social Council, the Bangladesh delegation... argued that there were no 'indigenous' people in Bangladesh. This was a surprise," he told IRIN. Raja Devavish Roy, king of the Chakma Circle, the largest ethnic group in the Jumma, who was also appointed to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , says a widespread lack of knowledge about the area's long history of autonomy has resulted in discrimination against its inhabitants. "In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, all Millennium Development Goals... are well below the national average," Devavish said. The study states that "gross human rights violations" continue, including "arbitrary arrests, torture, extra-judicial killings, harassment of rights activists and sexual harassment". It recommends that the government formally endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and that the Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh investigate alleged human rights violations. Displaced During the insurgency, about 70 , 000 indigenous people fled Bangladesh and more than 100 , 000 were internally displaced. The study found that most international refugees had been repatriated and rehabilitated; however, "no practical steps have been taken to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons". But State Minister Jatindra Lal Tripura MP, chairman of the Taskforce for Repatriation of Tribal Refugees and the Rehabilitation of Internally Displaced People, insisted: "The current situation is better than the past. At present, there is harmony and peace [in CHT]." De-militarization According to the report, a third of Bangladesh's army is deployed in the CHT, an area that comprises just a tenth of the country's territory. "This is an excessive amount, by any standards, especially in a country not participating in a war," the study says. The report cites the military presence as the main reason for human rights violations against the local population and says the withdrawal of temporary military camps is "crucial for re-establishing normalcy". But how the military factor into establishing and maintaining peace in CHT remains unclear, Baer said. "The government has been open, but a big problem has been gathering relevant information about... the military presence in CHT. The 'black hole', so to speak, in my work, is the role of the military establishment in the CHT peace process," Baer said. Land rights According to the study, disputed land rights remain the most important issue, with forced evictions and expropriation of ancestral lands continuing at an " alarming rate". The Bangladesh government has long seen the CHT as empty land on to which it can move poor Bengali settlers, with scant regard for the area's Jumma inhabitants, activists insist. "The government set up the land commission [to settle land disputes] without due consideration of the opinions of the indigenous community. Therefore, indigenous people feel an unwillingness to cooperate with it," said National Human Rights Commission chairperson Mizanur Rahman. The study recommends that the government create a timeline for implementing all remaining provisions of the accord, warning that failure to do so could lead to " renewed political instability and ethnic conflict in the region". On 21 April, Survival International - an organization working for the rights of tribal people worldwide - reported that six indigenous Jumma villages were razed to the ground and many Jumma were attacked by Bengali settlers in the CHT. Violence erupted when Jumma landowners discovered settlers clearing their land and building shelters. A fight ensued that resulted in the death of three settlers. Following this incident, settlers, with the support of the army, burned down more than 90 Jumma houses and at least 20 Jummas were injured, the UK- based group reported.

Hasina wants Islam As Bangladesh State Religion

Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League would like to retain Islam as the state religion but wants all religions to enjoy equal rights, Prime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said. In a reversal of a policy laid down by her late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh to freedom, Hasina said she favoured retaining ‘Bismillah- Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim’ above the preamble of the constitution. The 1972 constitution had secularism as one of its pillars. This was removed after Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975. Bangladesh is now an Islamic republic, with 90 percent of its people being Muslims. Hindus constitute about nine percent and indigenous tribals follow Buddhism. There is a sprinkling of Christians. Hasina told the media after a two-hour meeting with the parliamentary committee that her party ‘is not against having Islam as state religion’. She suggested that the constitution should have ‘provision for ensuring equal rights to people of other religions’, The Daily Star reported Wednesday. Hasina also said her party was against banning religion-based political parties but it wanted some restrictions on them. This is the first time a prime minister appeared before a parliamentary committee that is reviewing the constitution in the light of a Supreme Court verdict last year that annulled several amendments brought about during 1975-90 when Bangladesh was a military-ruled nation. Jatiya Party, a major component of the Hasina-led ruling alliance, wanted the state religion to be retained. But the Left leaning Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Ganotanri Party and National Awami Party strongly opposed the Jatiya Party proposal.

BANGLADESH : The Arab Springs Chill Winds An Unexpected Downside

WHEN the Arab spring was in its infancy something unusual happened in the world’s second-largest Muslim-majority democracy. Following violent protests, Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, scrapped plans for a new airport near the capital, a pet project to be named after her father, Sheikh Mujib Rahman. A former Bangladeshi diplomat said he could remember no occasion on which an elected leader had reversed an important decision so quickly. He attributed the change of mind to what was happening in Egypt. The diplomat was not referring to fears that there might be a Bengali version of the Arab spring, though the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has talked about an “Egypt-like uprising” in their country. Instead, the economic consequences of the Arab spring are what matter. Bangladesh depends on remittances from the Middle East more than any other large country. Two-thirds of its recorded remittances—$7.2 billion in the year ending June 30 th 2010 —came from countries in The Economist ’s shoe-thrower’s index of regional flashpoints. The Middle East contributes slightly more to Pakistan’s total remittances but these account for only 6 % of Pakistan’s GDP, whereas Bangladesh’s remittances are 12% of GDP. The impact is certain to be bad, though how bad is unclear. Remittances are closely correlated with the number of migrant workers, lagged by about a year. On the eve of the global recession, about 6 m Bangladeshis worked abroad. The figure is lower now. Saudi Arabia is by far the most important overseas labour market. It hired a mere 22 ,000 Bangladeshis in 2009-10 , compared with 335 ,000 in the previous two years. Libya was Bangladesh’s fastest-growing market, albeit from a low base. Thus far, 34 ,000 Bangladeshi workers have returned from Libya and many others are trapped under fire in the docks of Misrata (they are now subjects of an international rescue mission). Bangladesh’s earnings from remittances tend to be volatile anyway, because its workers are mostly unskilled and get laid off quickly when economies turn down. (In contrast, remittances from higher-skilled Pakistanis are still rising). But the country is less badly affected than it might have been because its other main source of foreign exchange—textile exports—is doing well. This is partly because of rising labour costs elsewhere, and partly thanks to a rule change by the European Union. This allows clothes and other finished goods made in Bangladesh (and other least-developed countries) to come in duty-free as long as the value of their imported components does not exceed 70 %. Previously, the EU granted duty-free access to manufactures with an import content of 30 %. Bangladesh’s main competitors—China, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka—do not have “least developed” status, so the value of Bangladesh’s garment exports surged to $14 billion in the eight months to March 2011 , up 40 % at an annual rate. This will offset but not reverse the decline in remittances. The currency, the taka, is falling. So are foreign- exchange reserves. The IMF reckons the current-account balance will deteriorate sharply, from a surplus of 3.75 % of GDP in 2010-11 to a deficit of 0.75 % in 2011- 12. Unless something extraordinary happens—perhaps a resumption of large-scale hiring by the Saudis— remittances and the external position will get worse before they recover.

Srilanka And War Crimes : Keep Quiet And Carry On

SRI LANKA’S government has got its retaliation in first. On April 12th a panel of experts delivered a report to the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki- moon, assessing whether war crimes were committed when the nation’s army bloodily won a long-running civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels early in 2009. The report has not yet been made public, but the government is furious that an independent inquiry took place at all. The report, it says, is “ fundamentally flawed” and biased. In recent weeks Sri Lanka’s rulers have vented their anger, most obviously by cracking down at home, intimidating those they blame for spurring the launch of the UN inquiry in the first place. At the sharp end are Western- funded education and advocacy groups, notably those keen on post-war reconciliation or those that point out flaws in the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Facing the most intense scrutiny are groups which have complained about repression, a muzzled press and a lack of civil liberties. Top of the list is the National Peace Council, which pushed for a negotiated rather than a violent end to the war. Last month criminal investigators summoned its director, Jehan Perera, demanding details of the group’s funding and operations. Before that, a smear campaign in the press suggested the council takes orders from foreign donors. No specific crime has been alleged, making it harder for the council to clear its name. Under surveillance, too, is the local branch of Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog. In October, after it launched a project to monitor abuse of public resources, investigators called in its accountant to quiz him over “suspicious transactions”. The inquiry was dropped, but the pro-government press has continued to vilify the group. Most exposed of all are bodies which, as the war reached its climax, spoke up for civilians caught in the crossfire. Fierce army onslaughts finished off the brutal Tamil Tigers, but thousands of civilians were killed, injured or displaced in the process. Human-rights groups in the West backed the activists’ campaign. The government strongly denies any abuses and instead attacks the campaigners, saying they have involved foreigners in an internal affair. Now it accuses the NGOs of raking in funds without explaining how they are used, though the groups have offered to show their audited accounts. Several factors help explain the timing of all this. Some in Mr Rajapaksa’s hawkish government seem convinced that his opponents are conspiring with the West or, worse, with the active and educated Tamil diaspora, to discredit him. By spreading the idea that “fifth columnists” fed harmful information to foreign experts, the government hopes to discredit the UN report. If, in turn, other NGO types are worried by a crackdown, they might become less willing to snipe about other problems in Sri Lanka, such as pervasive nepotism. Journalists, too, might usefully be scared. On March 31 st police arrested the editor of a popular pro-opposition website. In Orwellian style, he was accused by the state-run media of being behind a January arson attack that destroyed his own office and equipment. Supposedly, this was to bring the government into disrepute, by getting officials blamed. But scariest of all, one of the website’s reporters, Prageeth Eknaligoda, has now been missing for more than a year. It can be dangerous to speak out in Sri Lanka.

PAKISTAN : Violence Against Shias In Parachinar

The city of Parachinar in the FATA province of Pakistan has witnessed continuous rounds of violence as pro-Taliban groups with ties to Al-Qaeda attempt to take over the city. Dozens of local Shias have been killed and hundreds of homes and businesses have been torched in the violence that has gripped the region since last April. Violence was sparked off in April 2007 as the town reverberated with explosions of mortar shells and rockets when pro-Taliban militants attacked a mosque in Parachinar. Tens of Shias were killed after being abducted and tortured by Taliban militants. Militants shot and killed the victims in cold-blood and left their bodies in the Aravali region. Local leaders blame the government for drawing a blanket of silence over the violence in the FATA province, and call on international aid organisations for assistance amidst the dire humanitarian crisis that has gripped the province. The city of Parachinar in FATA province of Pakistan has witnessed continuous rounds of violence as pro-Taliban groups with ties to Al-Qaeda attempt to take over the city. Dozens of local Shias have been killed and hundreds of homes and businesses have been torched in the violence that has gripped the region since April 2006. Violence was sparked off in April 2007 as the town reverberated with explosions of mortar shells and rockets when pro-Taliban militants attacked a mosque in Parachinar. Tens of Shias were killed after being abducted and tortured by Taliban militants. Militants shot and killed the victims in cold-blood and left their bodies in the Aravali region. Militant tribal groups like the Tehrik-i Taliban mark the landscape in the NWFP and FATA provinces in Pakistan, and the central government's policy towards these groups has unleashed a "violence- accommodation cycle" according to experts. Local leaders blame the government for drawing a blanket of silence over the violence in the FATA province, and many residents liken their fate in the province to the siege of Gaza. Kurram Agency has been subject to periodic sieges since April, the most recent of which has lasted for more than two-months in certain regions, and well over five-months of complete blockade in the city of Parachinar. Residents in Parachinar face an acute shortage in supplies of food and medicine. In an interview with AIM, a leading figure from Parachinar stated, "We call the [whole of] humanity for relief, removal of blockade, peace in the region and re-opening of the roads". Speaking of the dire humanitarian crisis that has gripped Parachinar, he added, "our sick persons are passing away without cure and medicine." The violence and humanitarian crisis in Parachinar has been met with silence from media outlets and human rights groups in covering the crisis. "Parachinari people are crying for relief but their voice returns back, because the 'big ones' have considered these people as non-human [and] uncivilized", a local figure exclaimed in clear frustration at the lack of coverage of the horrific situation in the Kurram Agency. In a rare piece, Pakistani media outlet, The Post , featured a story on the clashes in Kurram Agency, and similarly depicted the frustrations of the local population against the government's silence in the face of widespread violence and blockades which prevent the passage of the most basic supplies. The Post Protesters who had gathered in a rally organised earlier in April shouted slogans against the " political administration and were demanding restoration of durable peace in the area" the piece added. In exclusive pictures sent to AIM from Parachinar, a glimpse of the horrific extent of the violence that has gripped Parachinar is revealed. The residents of Parachinar complain that at a time when the world is supposedly at war with Al- Qaeda and the Taliban, it is of great surprise that the very real stories of grief and horror from victims who are faced with violence from these groups on a routine basis goes unheard. The call from Parachinar is not one to the 'ears of humanity' per se, but one that returns to question the collective conscience of the ' civilized world', and the double- standards at play in the so-called ' war on terror'. underlined that hospitals in the region were facing a "critical condition" due to the lack of medical supplies.