by Raja Devasish Roy, Chief, Chakma Circle
[Raja Roy writes about the concern over the proposed land survey in CHT. With a view to circulating it and raising awareness among the people, this piece has been posted on here]
The indigenous Jumma people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in Bangladesh, and the indigenous Jummas living in other parts of the world are gravely concerned at imminent programmes of the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission and the Government of Bangladesh to conduct a Land Survey in the CHT.
The proposed survey, if conducted, will be so done without the prior, informed consent of the indigenous peoples of the region and in violation of the express provisions of the CHT Accord of 1997 otherwise known as the “peace accord”.
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| Photo: Midori Matsuda |
Based upon the experience of similar surveys conducted in the past, indigenous communities are fearful that such a survey will lead to further land alienation through the appropriation of their lands by unlawful settlers, private companies, government departments and elite city-dwellers.
A survey as proposed, is more than likely to lead to the legitimization of unlawful occupation by outsiders of the indigenous peoples’ customarily used lands. Similarly, the survey is almost certain to lead to the privatization of indigenous commons through the de-recognition of oral tradition-oriented customary regimes and practices on the ownership, occupation and use of homesteads, agricultural land, community forests, grazing lands, grasslands and water bodies. Land surveys are based upon concepts of land ownership, use, occupation, record of rights and so forth in accordance with land ownership and land survey laws of the plains districts of Bangladesh, which have no manner of application to the CHT. The CHT is administered in accordance with the CHT Regulation, 1900, read with the Hill District Councils Acts of 1989 and the CHT Regional Council Act of 1998, which recognize the customary land rights of the indigenous peoples.
It is believed that the proposed survey is to be started at the behest of Mr. Justice Khademul Islam, the chairperson of the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission, and other government officials. This is being done in gross violation of the provisions of the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission Act of 2001 and other relevant laws, and against the wishes of the majority of the members of the commission, including the chairperson of the CHT Regional Council, the chairpersons of the three Hill District Councils and the three traditional rajas or Circle Chiefs. Many of the aforesaid indigenous leaders have formally protested against the proposed survey and called upon the government, including in writing, to suspend the work of the commission until such time as the inconsistencies between the Land Commission law and the provisions of the CHT Accord of 1997 are resolved through legal amendments in consultation with the CHT Regional Council and there is consensus on the procedure of dispute resolution among the members.
One of the results of a survey is information and data on the surveyed land: about its physical properties (whether the land is lowland or slope, water body or land, whether there is vegetation on it or not), its measurements, and the identity of its present occupiers and so forth. If, theoretically, the Land Commission were to recover possession of unlawfully occupied land and declare illegal unlawful settlements (which is within its mandate), what then would be the use of obtaining a picture of the current status of land statistics and the identity of the occupants, which might change after dispute resolution by the commission? Why would one spend so much time, effort and money to do such a survey? Thus there is every reason to suspect that there is no intention of changing the status quo.
There is also every reason to suspect that there is an intention to re-settle non-indigenous migrants people on land on which there is no registered title (which may emerge after a land survey), which may be termed “khas”. The concept of khas does not apply to the CHT. Khas lands are those lands in the plains that were not recorded in the name of any person or institution when the title of those lands were transferred from the zamindars (landlords) to the state in 1950, with the abolition of zamindary. There was no zamindary in the CHT, and the concerned land law that recognizes the concept of khas (East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950) does not apply to the CHT. CHT lands that are not settled or leased out in the name of any person or institution are the customary commons of the hill peoples, whether they are forest, swidden (jum) land, grazing land, grassland or water body.
The conduct of a survey will in practice amount to the divestment of responsibility of the functions of the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission – to provide a just resolution to the problem of land alienation and land dispossession in accordance with the “laws, customs and usages” of the CHT - to dispute resolution by survey officials who have no knowledge and experience of custom-based land ownership and use. One cannot of course expect that the CHT people – particularly the Jummas – are going to get more justice at the hands of survey officials (Kanungo, Amin, Surveyors, Chainmen) than at the hands of a commission in which their representatives have a role in decision-making.
A land survey, if deemed appropriate, should only be done in the CHT after the concerned land and survey laws are amended to adequately acknowledge the customary land rights of the indigenous peoples of the CHT and in accordance with the provisions of the CHT Accord of 1997, as mentioned above.
This applies to survey anywhere in the CHT, whether for ‘disputed’ lands or ‘undisputed’ lands.
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