TOWARDS A LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY OF INDIGENOUS ISSUES IN BANGLADESH
Many human rights activists have been working in the indigenous MK is a Human Rights activist working in and with the indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh for decades. However, the contribution from the outside to the region began long before this period, though at lower levels. This contribution has emanated from the fact that human rights issues require attention in the region, and without intervention, these issues can not be resolved. One such community in need of such human rights intervention is the Chakma people’s community.
The crisis pertaining to the Chakma people’s community in Bangladesh is complex but can be summarized as one between the government and the problems pervading the community. More particularly, however, the indigenous people in the community have suffered owing to partition factors in India. To become involved in the politics of the region, and to attempt to resolve, or at the very least, to attempt to resolve the Chakma issues, hence, invites security issues from larger governmental structures, and their agents of governmentality.
These bodies all seek to govern and to intervene in the problems of indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, such as with the Chakma community. This considering that the Chittagong has many multilingual indigenous communities, and for example, the Chakma, the Marma, the Tripura, the Mro, the Bawm, the Pangkhu, the Khyang, the Khumi, the Chak, the Lushai, and the Tanchangya.
These ethnic groups all belong to the Jumma (High Landers), and at times live alongside the Assames, Gorkha, and Santals communities.
The problems across this diverse set of groups are extensive, and the extensive number of these also further complicates the already extensive number of issues that require resolution in the indigenous lives of the Chittagong people.
As is frequently the case with all communities, the Chakma community people differ significantly to other groups, and in this case, a large majority of ethnic and other groups in the Bengali region in Bangladesh. This difference is partly owing to the fact that the Chittagong Hill region is separated into three hill districts, the Rangamati, the Khagrachari, and theirdly, the Bandarban disctrict, while the CHittagong region has its own autonomy that is distinct from other parts of Bangladesh.
This administrative system in the CHT includes elected bodies of people’s representatives at each of two distinct levels, the Union level and the National level, together with agencies that work to implement mandate and other policies at Upazila.
In addition to this, the the CHT ihas decentralised government institutions isuch as the regional level council and the Hill district level councils, as well as a three tier traditional structure which is built on the customs of the indigenous Jumma people that house Circle Chiefs, Headmen at Mouza, and also Karbaries in villages.