http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/04/07/d40407100173.htm
The Daily Star, Vol. 4 Num 305
Wed. April 07, 2004
Staff Correspondent
Successive governments had fuelled ethnic conflicts in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts (CHT) leading the region to impoverishment, said the
speakers at a seminar in the city yesterday.
They said migration of people from plain land to the CHT region and
expropriation of land were the two major reasons for ethnic clashes.
Some donors-aided projects to alleviate poverty have also turned into
boomerang for ethnic people, the speakers added.
The seminar on 'Migration, Land Alienation and Ethnic Conflict: Causes
of Poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh" was held at the
YWCA auditorium.
Deputy Minister for CHT Affairs Moniswapan Dewan attended the seminar as
chief guest.
Samata Chairperson Khushi Kabir chaired the session while Director of
the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) Mizanur Rahman
Chowdhury delivered the welcome address.
Swapan Adnan, professor of National University of Singapore, delivered
the keynote speech on the topic.
The deputy minister said the hill people are suffering from frustration
due to continuous economic and cultural aggression on them.
Secretary General of the Bangladesh Economic Association Prof. Abul
Barakat said the rulers have deprived the hill people in the name of
national interest.
Prof. M M Akash of Dhaka University said it is a matter of great pity
that the outsiders are deciding everything for the highlanders.
Dr. Hamida Hossain, Prof Meghna Guhathakurata, Bangladesh Forum for the
Indigenous People Secretary General Sanjeeb Drong, Philip Gain, Prof.
Prasanta Tripura, and Kabita Chakma also spoke.