THE fire in the cropland of the Mro community at Lama, Bandarban allegedly set by a local rubber company on April 27 calls for an impartial investigation and punitive action against people responsible. Twenty-eight eminent citizens in a statement on April 29 expressed concern about the fire that burnt about 100 acres of cropland. They also expressed concern about the negligence of the local administration that has so far not been heard of taking any steps in this regard. The statement, referring to news reports, says that allegations are there against the rubber company which has earlier grabbed about 300 acres of land owned by ethnic minorities in three areas of Langkom Mro Karbari Para, Joychandra Tripura Karbari Para and Reng Yen Mro Karbari Para at Sorai of Lama. Allegations of harassment of ethnic minority people, who have protested against land grab, with false cases have also earlier made the headlines.

Land governance has been a case of mismanagement and corruption and for ethnic minority community it is a case of dispossession of and eviction from their ancestral land. The Mro community has protested against the construction of a luxury hotel and tourist spot in the Chimbuk Hill area since November 2020. They allege that a large area of jum land was grabbed for the project, which, if implemented, would displace six Mro villages, would indirectly affect 50 more villages and leave around 10,000 cultivators landless. Land grab has also been reported in other hill districts. In the past few decades, ethnic minority people were evicted from their ancestral lands in the name of national park, eco-park, eco-tourism, firing range and conservation forest even though all tourism and development activities in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, keeping to the 1997 accord, are supposed to take place with the consent of the community. Many ethnic minority people have also been evicted from the plain land. The eviction of many and the long-lasting dispute over major areas of the Madhupur forest are a case in point. All such land grabs stand in contrast to Bangladesh’s commitment to protecting the rights of the ethnic communities under the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention 1957.

The government must, therefore, ensure land rights of ethnic minority communities keeping in mind that land ownership among communities in the Chattogram Hill Tracts has for long been determined by traditional customs. The authorities must not allow any project on land owned by the communities without their consent. The authorities must also investigate the fire incident, compensate the affected and bring the perpetrators to justice.