Researching for Justice and Rights

Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan

Photo: Orchid Changma

"The sky is adorned with the alluring moon 
If we cannot survive, who will appreciate her heavenly beauty?"

It is the folk song of an indigenous community called Khadia mostly found in Sri Mongol and Moulvibazaar. Most of these people are labourers of the tea gardens. When Pavel Partha first listened to this song, he was only a school boy visiting a Khadia village near his maternal uncle's home in Sri Mongol. At that time these people were on strike for a 10 paisa wage increment. 

However, the song and struggle of this marginalised community made a deep impression on Partha's mind. Later that incident inspired him to dedicate his life to study the culture and lifestyle of Bangladesh's indigenous and marginalised communities. Pavel Partha has been researching on Bangladesh's indigenous communities for more than two decades. 

He has published numerous books, journals and articles on different indigenous and marginalised communities living in different corners of Bangladesh. As a student of Botany from Jahangirnagar University, Partha's research titled "Ethno-botanical Investigation of the Ethnic Communities Living in Greater Dhaka and Sylhet Division" is till now the most extensive academic ethno-botanical research work in Bangladesh. For this research, he spent months and years with 14 indigenous communities living in different corners of Dhaka and Sylhet division. He is an uncompromising activist to protect the rights of these marginalised and indigenous peoples of our country. 

During his university life he got involved with the self-determination movement of the indigenous communities living in Chittagong Hill Tracts. He was also actively involved with the protest against government's Madhupur Eco Park Project which was implemented by evacuating thousands of indigenous Mandi and Koch people and the project also introduced invasive foreign trees like acacia and eucalyptus by destroying the indigenous Shal trees in Modhupur forest. 

"We usually talk about the land rights of the indigenous communities. However, these people own a rich cultural identity; they have a unique and developed scientific knowledge on nature and they have the right to preserve and practice it. Very few of us recognise this right," says Partha.

Thanks to Partha's continuous activism, our government has recognised the term 'sacred plant' and 'sacred forest' of the indigenous communities and ensured its conservation in the Wildlife Conservation and Security Act, 2012. In the same act, the government mentioned the species like acacia and eucalyptus as invasive species for which Partha has written numerous articles.

Partha is also the first person to research on unfamiliar indigenous communities such as Kora communities of Dinajpur, Laleng community of Sylhet, Koda community of Rajshahi and Dalu community of Sherpur district. "I have spent days and months with these people. They have unique and highly developed knowledge on natural resources. Nobody has shared their stories yet with the rest of the world. So, we cannot even imagine how marginalised and poor these people are," says Partha.

Currently he is writing books on Koda indigenous community and nomadic Bede community. He is also writing a book on the villages and communities that have been evicted by the Kaptai Hydroelectric Project and preparing maps of those destroyed villages.

Partha's dream is to create an academic platform through which the knowledge of our indigenous communities will be practiced and evaluated. "I want to make our government realise that all the subaltern people of our country have developed an indispensable relation with nature for their survival. If they realise it and respect this relation, none of our development project will turn into disaster for these people," says Partha.