The Central Committee of the Parbatya Chittagong Chhatra Parishad (PCCP) has strongly condemned and protested against the unauthorized use of the word 'tribal' by Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal, who is at the top of the state structure, and the conspiracy against the sovereignty of the country. The organization expressed this anger and protest through a press release sent to the media today (June 18) afternoon. The release was signed by PCCP Central Committee Office Secretary Md. Jamir Uddin.
The statement said that on June 14, 2026, Anna Minz, a conscious and patriotic member of parliament from the reserved women's seat (No. 319) in the budget session of the National Parliament, very specifically identified herself as a proud representative of the 'small ethnic group' and the 'ethnic group of the plains'. But the Deputy Speaker, Barrister Kaiser Kamal, who sits at the top of the Presidium of the Parliament, used the word ‘indigenous’ in a completely unwarranted, unconstitutional and short-sighted manner. The repeated use of this word by a highly educated jurist is a deep conspiracy for the sovereignty, integrity and national security of the country.
PCCP raised several legal and constitutional arguments in their statement:
Constitutional violation: The word ‘indigenous’ does not exist in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. According to Article 23 (a) of the Constitution, people with different cultures other than the main Bengali population have been well established as ‘tribes, small ethnicities, ethnic groups and communities’.
Government ban: In the interests of geopolitical realities and national security, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on July 19, 2022 and the NGO Affairs Bureau in 2019 banned the use of the word ‘indigenous’ through special instructions.
Historical documents: The word 'tribe' has also been used in the historic Chittagong Hill Tracts Agreement and the District Council Act, which was signed and accepted by the tribal leaders themselves. As a result, the Deputy Speaker's statement is tantamount to pointing the thumbs up at all the government's legal notifications and constitutional restrictions.
Allegations of distortion of history
In the statement, the PCCP Central Committee expressed its anger that Deputy Speaker Mr. Kaiser Kamal, while he was the Member of Parliament for Netrokona-1 constituency and State Minister for Land, had previously claimed with a historically distorted and anti-state theory that the tribals were the first inhabitants of this country and the Bengalis had occupied their place.
However, according to the archaeological evidence of Wari-Bateshwar or Pundravardhan, the history of Bengali civilization in this Bengal is two and a half to three thousand years old. On the other hand, the history of the tribes in this region is not more than 300-350 years, which is also clear in Section 52 of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Administrative Code, 1900. This statement by the Deputy Speaker is a despicable attempt to make crores of Bengalis 'foreigners' or 'land robbers' in their own land.
The PCCP expressed deep concern and said that this short-sighted statement of the Deputy Speaker is already being circulated as a 'state reference' or state document by extremist and separatist armed groups in the Hill Tracts through social media.
"According to Articles 3, 4, 26 and 30 of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, if a people is recognized as 'indigenous', they get the legal basis to force the withdrawal of the country's indigenous people and the army from one-tenth of the country (the hilly region) in the name of the right to self-determination, autonomy and ownership of traditional lands. This statement by the Deputy Speaker is in a way tantamount to supporting the international blueprint for the formation of an independent 'Jummaland' or 'Christian Cookie Land'."
PCCP's specific demands and warnings
In the emerging situation, the Parbatya Chittagong Chhatra Parishad (PCCP) has made two specific demands to the government:
1. This unconstitutional and dangerous statement by Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal must be expunged (withdrawn) from the sacred minutes of the National Parliament as soon as possible.
2. In the future, for the sake of the integrity of the state, strict legal policies should be formulated to prevent responsible persons at all levels of the government from using such unconstitutional words.
Warning of strict movement:
The statement clearly warns that the students and hill people of the country will not accept any international or internal conspiracy to divide the map of Bangladesh and destroy the peace of the plains including the peaceful hilly regions. If this unconstitutional statement is not withdrawn immediately, a strict movement will be called along with the patriotic students and the public. If the situation in the hills worsens as a result, Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal will have to bear the full responsibility.
