Law Event
Create conditions to facilitate the Urdu speaking community
R M Faizur Rahman
Speakers at a seminar underscored the need for creating conditions to facilitate the camp dwelling Urdu speaking community's access to their rights as citizens of the country. They observed that these 160,000 Urdu speaking human beings are languishing in 116 settlements in different parts of the country. The seminar titled Accessing Rights as Citizens: the Camp Dwelling Urdu Speaking Community, held on at BRAC Centre was organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) of Dhaka University. Dr. C R Abrar and Victoria Redclift presented findings of their recently conducted research under the auspices of the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty.
Dr. Abrar and Redclift highlighted the fact that a growing number of the younger generation in particular now consider themselves to be Bangladeshi and their eligibility under the laws of citizenship of Bangladesh has been further cemented by pronouncements of the higher judiciary. However, they noted, in practice very little has changed for the majority of the community and effective citizenship rights have never been realised. The presenters stated that on the one hand the camp dwellers have to be made aware of their rights as Bangladeshis, and on the other, the broader Bengali community has to be mobilised.
The study noted a formal declaration on the part of the state acknowledging the community as Bangladeshi would go a long way in effective realisation of their rights.
Among others, Ahmed Ilias of Al Falah Bangladesh, Farida Akhter of UBINIG, Finn Ruda of International Committee of the Red Cross, Dr. Shuchi Karim of Dhaka University and Dr. Shahdeen Malik of BRAC University participated in the discussion. Ahmed Ilias demanded that the National Election Commission should take note of the High Court's judgement and take necessary steps to enrol camp dwellers as voters. He said in Saidpur where the Bihari community was given the opportunity they effectively exercised their rights and elected a Bihari as Chairman of the local municipality and eight ward commissioners.
Rights activist Farida Akhter observed that it is regrettable that human rights and non-government organisations of the country have thus far neglected this disadvantaged community. She said upholding rights of all is the most appropriate means by which the true spirit of the war of liberation can be upheld. Finn Ruda of ICRC noted that the Bihari issue is no longer a humanitarian problem, it demands effective engagement of the state. Dr. Shahdeen Malik of BRAC University and Dr. Shuchi Karim of Dhaka University noted that it was about time the majority Bengali Sunni Muslim community of Bangladesh provide space to other ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
The Chair of the session, Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, cautioned that there were no judicial quick fixes to the Bihari problem. Social and political sanctions should go hand in hand in addressing the problem. He also underscored that the issue should be seen as a human security problem with economic, nutritional, health, personal, environmental, community and legal dimensions.
The author is working with RMMRU.
