Whose Peace Agreement? Indigenous Peoples perspectives on Bangladesh's CHT Accord 1997'

Abstract

Concentrating on intrastate conflicts and intrastate peace agreement, and its relationship to Indigenous Peoples, this research explores and explains the impact of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord 1997 upon Indigenous peoples in the CHT region of Bangladesh, with a case study of the intrastate peace agreement, an agreement between the State and Indigenous peoples.

Drawing on the criminology study in the regulation and governance of the cascade of violence, this dissertation deploys the concept of macro to micro cascades of violence in Bangladesh, a concept which is an analysis by John Braithwaite and Bina D'Costa and presented in Cascades of Violence: War, Crime and Peacebuilding across South Asia (2018). Braithwaite and D'Costa term 'macro' and 'micro' cascades of violence explain it this way: First, historical imperialism is the root of cascade of violence in the South Asia region, and down to Bangladesh and impacting the CHT Indigenous people's struggle for autonomy. Second, it revealed that the cascade of violence in relates to Indigenous peoples in the CHT region is, the outcome of exclusion, domination, and militarisation. Finally, it showed that the drivers of the cascade of violence in the CHT region is through the militarisation as a cascade of domination, turning on military politics and money politics, that results in the exclusion of Indigenous peoples' rights over their traditional land rights in the CHT region. Therefore, cascade of violence in this thesis has been explored on the promises of the land dispute settlement, demilitarisation, and special governance arrangement under the CHT Accord 1997.

I analyse the CHT Accord 1997 provisions on land dispute settlement, demilitarisation, and special governance arrangement - most importantly based upon, the military strategy of "defer, delay and ultimately deny implementation of key elements of the 1997 agreement", which lies at the heart of the conflict and deep-rooted problems. This research identified limitations from the theoretical, methodological and analytical perspective of the cascade of violence. This research seeks to understand the degree to which relational of historical imperialism of the cascade of violence operates in exclusion, domination and militarisation of the CHT and how this colonial mindset influences implementation of the CHT Accord provisions of land dispute settlement, demilitarisation, and special governance arrangements, and the ways in which cascades of violence both interact and inter-relate. Further, this research posits an explanatory and exploratory approach, using the cascade of violence concept to elaborate the interface from macro to micro, and how this could be employed. In particular, how an intrastate peace agreement may well extend the cascade of violence from macro to micro in the interests of civil and military bureaucrats and national political elites in the CHT region. Show more