Indigenous People
Recognition a must to implement CHT laws
Says Raja Devashish
Until indigenous people are given constitutional recognition, laws regarding Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) would not be properly implemented due to mismatch with the constitution, said Chakma Circle Chief Raja Devashish Roy yesterday.
“Many Chittagong Hill Tracts laws are out of sync with the constitution and so, including the peace accord, would continue to face questions from constitutional point of view unless indigenous people are constitutionally recognised,” he said.
Devashish was speaking at the launching programme of a book titled “Compendium on national and international laws and indigenous people in Bangladesh” in the city's National Planning Academy Auditorium.
Kapaeeng Foundation and Oxfam GB jointly organised the programme, presided over by Kapaeeng Foundation Chairman Rabindranath Soren.
On recommendation by parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendment to identify indigenous people as “Tribal”, Devashish said, “We expect the government to identify indigenous people by a term, at least accepted by the people themselves.”
The book contains all laws relevant to CHT.
“Actually it is not a book of laws but history. It recognises the fact that under circumstances, traditional norms have also been recognised as laws,” said Justice SK Sinha.
ZI Khan Panna, chairman of human rights and legal education committee of Bangladesh Bar Council; former chief justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman; journalists and human rights activists attended the programme.
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