“In 1965, after the Indo-Pakistan War, the then
Pakistan Government introduced the Enemy Property (Custody and Registration)
Order II of 1965. The Defence of Pakistan Rules identified the minority Hindus
as enemies and dispossessed them of their properties. After independence from
Pakistan, the President of Bangladesh, in Order No. 29 of 1972, changed the
nomenclature of the law from the Enemy Properties Act (EPA) to the Vested
Property Act. Clause 2 of the Order further stated: “Nothing contained in this
Order shall be called in[to] question in any court”. The Order of the President
was subsequently not subject to judicial review.
According to the Association for Land Reform and
Development (ALRD), an NGO based in Dhaka, the estimated total Hindu households
affected has been 1,048,390, and the estimated area of dispossessed land has
totaled 1.05 million acres. About 30% -- 10 out of every 34 -- of the Hindu
households (including those that are categorised as missing households) have
been the victims of EPA\VPA. These estimates, although based on some debatable
assumptions, should be considered as sufficiently indicative of the gravity of
the law’s impact.”[cii]
Chittagong Hills Tract is in
southeast Bangladesh and is the homeland to the Jumma peoples, 14 tribes of
Sino-Tibetan origin. As their language,
religion, social system, and economic practices differed from those of the
majority of Bangladesh’s population, the Jumma peoples became victims of ethnic
discrimination, forced relocation, land eviction, rape, torture, and judicial
executions. The CHT peace accord was an
effort to ease the struggle between the Jumma peoples and the government of
Bangladesh.[ciii]
On December 21, 1965, the United
Nations adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination. The fundamental
of the Convention are as follows:
The full text of the Convention
can be found at
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/d_icerd.htm
On December 16, 1966, the United
Nations adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The fundamentals of the Covenant are as
follows:
The full text of the Covenant can
be found at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm
On December 10, 1948, the United
Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The fundamentals of the Declaration are as
follows:
Following this act, the UN called
upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to
cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in
schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the
political status of countries or territories.”
The full text of the Declaration can be found at http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html