MD. Shakhawoat Hossain
Department of Peace and Conflict
Studies
University of Dhaka
Introduction:
Bangladesh
is one of the most vulnerable country in Southeast Asia because of its internal
political instability, minority problems, cross border disputes, internal
terrorist groups and survival needs of its large and rapidly expanding
population. These problems mainly create the causes of internal conflict for
certain reasons. Such as lack of establishing democratic government, lack of
accountability of state institutions, corruption, and ethnic discrimination,
discrimination in social, economic and cultural systems and so on. So these
types of causes provide Bangladesh a fertile ground for the emergence of the
various types of unrest internal violent conflict. In the following I would
like discuss about the internal conflict in Bangladesh and try to find out what
are actual causes mainly responsible behind it and recommend some solutions for
proper minimizing these types’ problematic issues.
Internal
Conflict:
Before
going to deep discussion we need to know about what is internal conflict? Internal conflict usually refers to the conflict
which occurs within the state territory. It can be the cause of political
violence or ethnic conflict. According
to the Michael E. Brown "By internal conflict " we mean violent
or political disputes whose origin can be traced primarily to domestic rather
than systematic functions where armed conflict take place or threatens to take
place within the borders of a single state.
Internal
Conflict in Bangladesh:
Geographically
and historically Bangladesh accommodates a number of multi-religious and
malti-cultural groups which make Bangladesh one of the most populous
homogeneous countries in the world. But unfortunately, ethnic and religious
intolerance, domestic violence, intra-state conflict seriously hindered its
social, political and economic development. There are different types of
internal conflict usually occur in Bangladesh. Some of them are discuss below -
Political conflict: Conflict among the political parties
is one of the savior issues in Bangladesh. It is also great burden for its
national security. The political system of Bangladesh is always characterized
with lack of participation, mistrust and misunderstanding among the political
parties, over representation of ruling party in every single branches of
government, such as judiciary the executive, legislative, bureaucracy, civil
service, militarily and police. So these
types of dominating political systems neutrally resent opponent parties about
the advantages which ruling party enjoyed. So they engage in different types of
political violence. Some of the
important causes of political violence in Bangladesh are given below –
a. Ideological differences: The political system of Bangladesh is mainly
characterized with contrast political ideologies among the political parties.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) believes in "Bangladesh
Nationalism". This ideology based on a role of religious in social and
political life under legal framework. The other big party Bangladesh Awami
League (AL) believes in "Banglalee Nationalism" which relatively forms
by secular politics.
b. The personal hostility: The personal relationships among the
party leaders are always reflect with hostility. They like to criticize one
another on personal matter and play important role in party conflict.
c. Excessive rivalry among the political leaders: The
excessive rivalry among the political leaders in Bangladesh is a common
political culture. Here only ruling party want to consumed all state powers
everything try to control under their desire conditions for being strong
and long lasting their power. So its introduced dominance political culture
and opponents parties began movements for different type’s issues and create
political violence.
d. The electoral disputes: The electoral disputes in Bangladesh
also increase tensions for sporadic country wide violence. Political parties
have no confidence on each other and not willing to contest election under incumbent
government. So all the parties in the
countries willing to come in election under a non-party caretaker government to
find proper solutions for electing new government. But the incumbent government
of SK Hasina amended the constitution and change the election time caretaker
government. So according to the human rights watch report in 2014 election
related violence polls the most violent in the country's history.
Ethnic
conflict:
The ethnic
people in Bangladesh are mainly live in hilly areas and also some in plain
lands. They significantly differ from the Bengali people in terms of their appearance,
language, religion and socio-cultural identity. The total number of ethnic
communities are 45 ( Costa & Data; 2007). They mostly live in Chittagong
Hill tracks (CHT). The total area on this land is 13.180 km2 in
southeastern Bangladesh to India and Myanmar. The indigenous population at
least 1.1 million belongs to different tribal groups. They are very distinct by
language, culture, heritage and abide by own administering status. According to the "CHT regulation
1900" the king of CHT enjoyed the complete autonomy. So the government of
India act 1935 declared CHT as "Totally Excluded Area" from British
Administration. But the status of CHT changed from excluded area to tribal area
when Pakistan made a constitutional amendment in 1963 that began to effective
in 1964. By this amendment the Bengali people got chance to settle in CHT which
bring this area into internal ethnic conflict. Moreover, the Pakistani
government built a Kaptai Hydro-Electric Dam at Chittagong in 1962. As a result
of this project thousands of hill people became internally displaced and lost
everything. Many of them became refugee in India and Myanmar. So ethnic groups
in CHT area lost their identity as indigenous people and faced discrimination
by the state authority, they began to engage in movements for protecting their
land and rights and established their own military group called "Shanti
Bahini" and emphasis to establish their own autonomy and desire to
continue to live together under an auspecise of single government. Some causes
of ethnic conflict in Bangladesh are given below -
a.
Cultural domination: cultural domination is the main cause of
ethnic conflict in Bangladesh. Culturally distinct minority people always face
discriminatory behavior from majority Bengali people socially, economically and
politically which lead them into conflict.
b.
Ownership
of land: Ownership of land in CHT area also a great cause of ethnic
conflict in Bangladesh. Most of the minority people claimed that they are
historically owner of this area but constitutional amendment of Pakistan
included this area in Bangladesh. So ownership matter of this land introduced
cause of ethnic conflict between minority and Bengali people.
c.
Seeking
autonomy of CHT: The leaders of ethnic groups in CHT area are keen
interested to establish their own autonomy in this area. So its create threats
for Bangladesh's independence which make dangerous conflicting situations among
the ethnic groups and the authority of Bangladesh.
Economic
conflict:
Bangladesh
is a least developed country in the world. Most of the people in Bangladesh
live under poverty line. The big part of young people in Bangladesh is
suffering unemployment problems. People those who have job, their wages is very
low. Especially in Garments sector in Bangladesh is struggling with a number of
problems. Such as conflict between owners and workers, labor unrest, shortage
of gas and electricity, poor infrastructure, poor port facility lead Bangladesh
into economic conflict.
Inter-state
conflict:
Bangladesh
has borders with India and Myanmar. So inter-state conflict in Bangladesh
borders are often occur. Especially, Myanmar border creates a challenging
situation for Bangladesh. Myanmar military often engage short time arm conflict
with border guard Bangladesh; illegal emigrants come as refugee which
dangerously affected the national security system of Bangladesh. The conflict
between BGB and BSF in the borders of Bangladesh and India also occur. BSF
often killed Bangladeshi people very harshly in claim of illegal migrant,
robbery, human trafficking, drug or arm smuggling etc. So these types of issues
create emergency of inter-state conflict between Bangladesh and its neighboring
countries borders.
Inter
group conflict:
There are
different types of hidden extremist groups in Bangladesh also engage in
conflict with security force. This mostly happen in sundorbon area in
Bangladesh. Most of these groups are related with arm and drug smuggling,
hijacking, human trafficking, terrorism etc.
Causes
of internal conflict in Bangladesh:
There are
many reasons of internal conflict we can decide about the causes of internal
conflict in Bangladesh. Some of the important factors are given below -
•
Structural
factors: Structural factors are one of the main causes of internal
conflict in Bangladesh. The structure of Bangladesh is very weak economically
and politically. It cannot ensure proper security of its citizens. On the other
hand, geographically concentrated ethnic groups make challenging situations for
Bangladesh by engaging different types of secessionist movements.
•
Political factors:
The
political structure of Bangladesh is very discriminatory. The state
institutions are mainly governed by the desire of ruling party. Inter-group
politics with ideological differences make Bangladesh very dangerous zone for
internal conflict.
•
Economic factors:
Bangladesh has wide range of economic problems. Most of the economic
institutions are corrupted. So imbalance economic conditions of Bangladesh are
the great cause of internal conflict.
•
Social factors: The
social system of Bangladesh is significantly broken. Intolerance attitude of
people and lack of social interaction among the people give birth many internal
conflict.
Recommendations
for proper management of internal conflict in Bangladesh:
It is
clear that internal conflict in Bangladesh create a number of difficulties for
Bangladesh to achieve sustainable development and internal stability. So
government should take necessary steps to internal conflict in Bangladesh. Some
of the recommendations for proper settlement of internal conflict are given
below -
•
Political solutions:
Political
solutions can play significant role for resolving internal conflict in
Bangladesh. Government must need to be design a political system which can
ensure active participations of all political parties in government ensure
freedom of speech, free of mass media and must need to avoid discriminatory
attitude to opponents, then it will be easier to minimize any kind’s internal
political conflict in Bangladesh.
•
Ethnic
rights protection: Ethnic group in Bangladesh are usually think that state
authority is undermining about their rights. So government must need to take
strategies for protecting minority rights which come to believe them that government
is really concern about their rights and demands and need to ensure proper
representation of ethnic minorities in government, legislature and policy
making.
•
Economic solution:
Economic
solution is very important for Bangladesh to build effective economic
approaches to minimize internal conflict. Government should take care about the
proper utilization of industries and factories which contribute a lot for
economic development. Especially in Garments sector, needs to ensure labor
security and confirm their salary range.
Conclusion:
To sum up,
it can be said that proper settlement of internal conflict is very important
for Bangladesh to ensure its political stability, multi-ethnic cooperation and
accommodation, sustainable economic development and durable peace. To do this
government is the main responsible. Their accountability, effective policies
can help Bangladesh to achieve its desire goal.
Reference
•
Human rights watch (2014) "Democracy in crossfire: Oppositions
violence and government abuses in the 2014 pre and post election period in
Bangladesh ".
•
IGG
(Institute of Governance Studies), the state of governance in Bangladesh 2007,
Dhaka, BRAC.
•
Costa T.
and Dutta 1997 "A survey report about the minority people in Bangladesh
"
•
Mohsin,A
(1997) The politics of Negotiations : The case of the Chittagong Hill Tracks,
Bangladesh.
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