The country's governments have always treated ethnic minority populated Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) as colony, ethnic leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma alleged yesterday.

He said the ruling class and a discriminatory social system were responsible for the "miserable lives" of minorities. “The ruling class doesn't love us, doesn't trust us, and doesn't treat us as human beings,” the president of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) said.

Also known as Santu Larma, he shared the grievances at a policy dialogue in the capital's Cirdap Auditorium, organised by the Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous Peoples, ahead of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples tomorrow.

Larma mentioned incidents of eviction of ethnic people from ancestral lands, deprivation from education, repression by “Bangalee settlers”, and lack of access to justice.

He said if the government had been sincere and democratic, the minorities would not have been evicted in the name of reserve forest or development projects. The minorities would disappear if the situation goes on, he feared, and urged the ethnic youths to start a rights movement. A disappointed Larma also said, “I don't expect honour and dignity from the ruling section.”

In his keynote paper, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum General Secretary Sanjeeb Drong demanded representation of ethnic people in all policy decisions and initiation of development projects suited to their lifestyle.

Awami League lawmaker Mrinal Kanti Das said the spirit of liberation would not be implemented without the advancement of ethnic minorities.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal lawmaker Nazmul Haque Prodhan urged all to raise voice for full implementation of the CHT peace accord.