The new trend of converting indigenous children to Islam was alarming and such conversions were taking place with the help of Islamic groups- such as Jamaat - to change the demographic and destroy diversity across the country, said speakers at an event yesterday.
Speaking at the publication ceremony for the “Human Rights Report 2013 on Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh,” academics, researchers and rights activists pointed out two separate rescue missions which took place on January 2 and February 4 last year. The missions, carried out by police and indigenous leaders, managed to rescue five girls from the Tripura community as well as 11 other indigenous children from madrasas in Dhaka.
Former adviser to the caretaker government Zillur Rahman Siddiqui unveiled the report, which was prepared by the Kapaeeng Foundation, at the city’s Cirdap auditorium.
According to Kapaeeng’s findings, these rescued children were from Rangamatiand Bandarban in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
“Religious fundamentalists are working secretly with the view to ‘Islamise’ the whole country. In this regard, they are using education to lure the indigenous families… Since most of the indigenous communities live in far-flung areas, their children do not have access to good schools…In such circumstances, religious [Islamist] fundamentalists attract such indigenous families by alluring them that they would provide education in good schools… but rather [they] take them to Madrassas,” the report said.
Speaking at the event, academic Mesbah Kamal said the new trend was related to the plans of Islamist extremists such as Islami Chhatra Shibir and Jamaat-e-Islami.
“They want a communal country. That is why they are trying to destroy every kind of diversity here,” he said.
Indigenous rights activist Sanjeeb Drong said religious conversion was a new trend and a new form of oppression that indigenous people are facing recently. “These children’s ages range from seven to 12. The state needs to take effective steps regarding this,” he said.
MB Akhter, programme manager of development organisation Oxfam, said such oppression with a view to change the demographics of the indigenous peoples has been going on for a long time.
“The issue is a political issue. The solution must come politically, not from the civil society,” he said.
European Union’sprogramme manager for governance and human rights,FabrizioSenesi,said: “Indigenous people are being victimised with the intention of destroying their identity. Diversity should be treated as a resource, not as a threat.”
Expressing frustration over the situation, BijoyKetanChakma, the convener of the MN Larma Foundation, said such oppression was contradictory to the history and spirit of the liberation war.
