'Recognise indigenous people's identity'
Lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badshah yesterday called upon the indigenous people of plain land to accelerate movement against the latest constitutional amendment, which termed all the people of Bangladesh including indigenous as Bangalee.
Speaking at a view exchange meeting on 'Social security and development of ethnic groups' held at Ashray Training centre in Rajshahi, Badsha, also the politburo member of Workers Party, said, “Indigenous people of the hill (Chittagong Hill Tracts) had to go through an armed struggle for ensuring their land rights. For indigenous people of the plain land, I don't know whether the struggle would be an armed one or not, but there is no doubt about a struggle”.
“Not recognising the indigenous people's rights of their identity and mother tongue shows disregard for the ideologies of the Liberation War”, he added.
The lawmaker demanded that the government must recognise the indigenous people constitutionally and include them in development activities to ensure proper practice of democracy.
He said an objection had already been submitted against a portion of the amendment.
Speaking as a special guest, Dhaka University teacher Prof Mesbah Kamal said the constitutional amendment had gone against the spirit of pluralism.
Kamal, also general secretary of Research and Development Collective, demanded repeal of the amendment.
Ganesh Soren, an educationist, presented the keynote paper in the meeting and described a number of case studies of losing lands and violating other rights of the indigenous people.
Swapan Kumar Roy, additional divisional commissioner, and Abdul Mannan, deputy director of LGRD, spoke while AFM Rajib Uddin, president of Ashray, a local NGO, chaired the meeting that was attended by around a hundred indigenous leaders from different northern districts.
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