Land grabbing by high profile army personnel in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) Bangladesh

Suharto Chakma

The army not only acts as the implementing agency for development programmes, it also profits economically from its presence in the region. Some of the incomegenerating activities are done legally and organizationally, such as the tourist industry in Bandarban district. Others, however, are of an illegal nature and mainly involve the enrichment of individuals. Illegal leases of land by high-ranking army officers and the taking of bribes from the timber trade are cases in point. 

1. Tourism The Bangladesh military has a business wing called Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense. Funds earned from UN peacekeeping missions are an important source of capital for SKS, in addition to government subsidies of approx. Tk. 3 crore (approx. USD 360,000) per year. Along with its interests in cement factories, food manufacturing and real estate, its presence in the tourism industry is also well known. The Radisson Water Garden Hotel, the first five star hotel in Dhaka, is a notable example.

 It also operates resorts in the CHT, the most famous of which is the Nilgiri Resort. Situated on the shoulder of a mountain, it is known as one of the luxury resorts in the CHT. During construction of this resort, the army destroyed an orchard of the local Mro people as well as shops and a school on the road nearby.The Nilachar lodge facility, four kilometers from Bandarban town, is also run by the military. 

2. Illegal lease of land A total of 1,871 leases of 25-acre plots totaling 46,775 acres of “khas” (government owned) land in the CHT were issued prior to the Peace Accord, mostly to nonresident industrialists, companies, and civil and military officials, with only around 30 being granted to Jumma people. Among the lessees are prominent individuals such as General M.A. Matin, Chief of Staff during the 2007-08 Caretaker regime and later GOC of Chittagong Division, as well as retired Colonel Oli Ahmed, former Communications Minister and head of a parliamentary committee in charge of peace talks with the PCJSS from 1992-93.63 The lease contracts require the lessees to plant rubber or other crops on the land within ten years, and do not allow transfer of the lease to others. In addition to this, the CHT Accord stipulates that leased lands lying unused are to be returned to the original owners or the relevant Hill District Council. Many of the lease holders have, however, used the land as collateral to borrow money from banks, or have transferred the leases to third parties using notarized affidavits, without developing the land as required.64 In 2009, the CHT Accord Implementation Committee announced that it would cancel leases to lands that had not been planted as per the lease deed. A planting rush ensued, and some lease holders allegedly also seized this opportunity to clear and plant on adjacent lands. Following a survey, it was announced that the leases to 593 plots had been cancelled but, allegedly, most of the cancelled leases were reinstated upon payment of the necessary bribes. Below are three prominent cases of such dubious lease contracts on the part of high-ranking or retired army officers.

Case 1: A lease to General M.A. Matin, Chief of Staff during the 2007-08 Caretaker Regime and ex-GOC, Chittagong Division

It is reported that General M.A. Matin acquired the lease to 275 acres of land in Bakkhali mouza, Naikkhyongchari sub-district, Bandarban district in his and his family members’ names. The Local Government and Engineering Department built an eight km brick-laid road at a cost of around Tk. 20 million (USD 24,000) to a point close to Matin’s land, in an area otherwise lacking in paved roads. Matin is said to have used some of the land for orchards but to have sold 75 acres to a relative named Harun in violation of the terms of the lease contract. In response to a reporter’s query, Matin is quoted as saying, “When I took the plot, I was eager to make an orchard, but I lost interest because the land was so far away.

Case 2: A lease to retired Colonel Oli Ahmed Retired Colonel Oli Ahmed obtained the lease to 150 acres of land in No. 303 Daluichari mouza in Soroi Union of Lama sub-district, Bandarban district, which was being used for jhum cultivation by local Tripura, Marma and Mro people. Local people say that the land was left undeveloped but that, in the mid-2000s, Oli Ahmed’s men came to demarcate the land. When the government moved to cancel unused leases, Oli Ahmed successfully lobbied the government to get his land declared “partially developed” (with signs of former cultivation as evidence) so his lease was removed from the cancellation list.

Case 3: Destiny-2000, headed by former army chief, grabs land in the name of “profit-sharing” with lease and title holders Destiny Tree Plantations Limited, a subsidiary of Destiny-2000 Limited, whose president is former army chief Lt. Gen. (retired) Harun-ur-Rashid, has used high-handed tactics to grab more than 5,000 acres of land from at least 1,000 Mro, Tripura and Bengali families to establish commercial tree plantations in 24 mouzas (administrative units) of Bandarban sadar, Lama, Alikadam and Naikkyongchari sub-districts of Bandarban district. The company claims that it has entered into “profit sharing arrangements” with holders of leased or titled land in the region, but local people allege that they were coerced to surrender their and for a pittance at best to the well-connected company. Destiny-2000 is facing an imminent government probe for illegal banking as national dailies have exposed a multilevel marketing scam in which some six million investors may have been defrauded of billions of taka.

Source: IWGIA, Organising Committee CHT Campaign and Shimin Gaikou Centre.