The Untouchables of Bangladesh | International Humanist and Ethical Union
The Untouchables of Bangladesh
Submitted by admin on 21 August, 2009 - 11:48
Bangladesh
International Humanist NewsUntouchabilityIHN 2009.3 August
Bangladesh embodies a combination of Bengali society and culture, a Hindu and Buddhist heritage and later Muslim traditions. The caste system and prejudice against “untouchables” are part of Hindu culture. Although Hindu in origin, work-based discrimination and social exclusion have been a reality in both the Hindu minority and the Muslim majority communities in Bangladesh. Many traditional occupations tend to be descent- based, forming communities who work in unappealing environments and live either in public housing or in slums. The living areas of the workers are segregated and they suffer abuse related to their jobs and status. Rigid religious and psychological barriers impede any change in habitat or occupation.
These workers may be termed “Dalits” – “broken people”. In Bangladesh with its Muslim majority, Hindus are a minority and Dalits are the most marginalised and deprived section of that minority community. They are considered “unclean”, living in their own neighbourhoods apart from “clean” groups. Most Dalits, particularly among the Hindus, are descendants of Indians from other parts of what was British India, largely imported by the colonial regime to provide menial services. They are denied entry to the temples, social centres and burial grounds of non-Dalits.
Hindu caste and the social stratification of Islam in Bangladesh
Caste practice in Bengal before partition of the Subcontinent had both hierarchical and territorial characteristics. In the census of 1941, 118 castes were counted in Bengal, including 62 scheduled castes.
There were 7.1 million members of scheduled castes in Bengal at the time of the partition of India.
Islam preached egalitarian principles and a true Muslim should not speak evil of others, irrespective of their religion. But Islam introduced a new type of social stratification, in which the highest were those closest to the Prophet in blood, faith and geography. Muslims of the subcontinent use the sayings of the Prophet to maintain their caste and class distinctions. According to the Sunni school of jurisprudence:
1. An Arab is superior to a non-Arab(Ajami) Muslim,
2. Amongst Arabs: a) The descendents of Hazrat Ali come first, b) The Quraysh are above all other Arabs, save Hazrat Ali’s descendents,
3. The descendents of the Caliphs,
4. A learned non-Arab (Ajami) is equal to an ignorant
Arab,
5. A Qazi (Muslim judge) or a Faqih (Muslim jurist theologian) ranks higher than a merchant, and a merchant than a tradesman.
So the Islamic hierarchy is not the same as the Hindu caste system.
Bengali Muslims were stratified into four major castes – Syed, Mughal, Sheikh, and Pathan, a parallel to the Hindu Varna system. All are noble, but the former two, representing the tribe of the Prophet and the direct progeny of Ali, his son-in-law, are pre-eminent. The community has unfortunately inherited the divisions of both their Hindu and Muslim forbears, and caste prejudices have left their mark upon many. There are about 35 separate Muslim castes in Bengal.
Bengali Muslims, unlike Hindus, or Muslims in many other regions, did not welcome modern education or the improved quality of life brought to the mass of the people by modernisation. As a consequence, Bengali Muslims, the majority of whom were rural poor and illiterate, never formed a viable middle class.
At the beginning of the 20th century Muslims constituted a large part of the agricultural population of Bengal, but most were tenants rather than landowners. Land was mainly owned by absentee Hindu landlords. Many Muslim tenants suffered at the hands of the unsympathetic agents of these landlords.
Like the higher-caste Hindus, foreign Muslims (Arabs, Persians, Afghans) and their descendents classified themselves as Ashraf (noble-born) and looked with contempt upon groups such as weavers, cotton-carders, oil-pressers, barbers and tailors. The lowest castes were forbidden to enter the mosque or use the public burial grounds.
The Ashraf refused to be identified with locality, Bengali cultural heritage and language, speaking Urdu at home. Many indigenous Bengali Muslim converts spoke a language mixed with Persian and Arabic words known as Mussalmani-Bengali. When educating their children, they chose Urdu, because it was likely to raise their social status.
The Hindus of Bangladesh are traditionally divided into Brahmin, Kashtriya and Vaishya and the lower castes known as Shudra – the traditional serfs, craftsmen, agricultural labourers, and outcastes (Atishudras). Traditionally, each caste followed a particular hereditary occupation. In Bangladesh, scheduled or low castes have different status from untouchables and as a result experience different kinds and degrees of discrimination.
The International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) estimated in 2006 a population of 5.5 million Dalits in 45 different communities in Bangladesh, segregated by occupation and caste.
Human rights, discrimination and the Constitution of Bangladesh
Secular Bengali nationalism acted to unite all the people regardless of religion in a bond of fraternity. Four fundamental principles – nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism – were embodied in the Bangladesh Constitution of 1972.
Article 10 mandates the attainment of a just and egalitarian society free from exploitation. Article 12 requires secularism to be realised by the elimination of communalism, of granting political status in favour of any religion, of the abuse of religion for political purposes, and of any discrimination or persecution of persons practising a particular religion.
Despite the fact that, according to the eighth amendment to the Constitution, Islam is the State religion, article 41 of the Constitution declares, “every religious community or denomination has the right to establish, maintain and manage its institutions”. The Constitution does not recognise minorities as groups distinct from the Bengalis.
Although the Constitution confers equal rights irrespective of race, caste, creed or religion, social exclusion is still manifest in both rural and urban areas. Extreme violence, including abduction, rape, torture, destruction of houses, land grabbing and eviction, is from time to time visited on different groups, including Dalits, human rights defenders, media personnel, women, children, NGO personnel and the Adibashi and Ahmedia communities. The culprits are often militant Islamic groups.
Visible discrimination against the minority community, the majority of whom are the low-caste Hindus or untouchables, permeates every sphere of socioeconomic and political life.
In 2008 only 500 Jawans out of 80 000 worked in the defence service. Until 1993, not a single member of the minority community was a chairman or director in government, semi-government or autonomous organisations. No minority member was a director in a bank or financial institution and only one was a general manager among 37 in the nationalised banks.
There are some 3.5 million “untouchable” sweepers in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, officials now recruit people from outside the caste as sweepers, depriving Dalits of work. The Government has decided that no man may be appointed as a sweeper without having an educational qualification.
The negative attitude towards Dalits even spills over into the micro-credit programmes that have made Bangladesh world famous as a pioneer in the fight against poverty. Dalits, having neither permanent jobs nor land for dwellings find it difficult to form groups and save the required small amounts every week. Without a change in the attitude that sees Dalits as liabilities rather than assets, the nation will forever be deprived of the full potential of millions of Dalits.
Policy Recommendation and Challenges
A joint NGO submission by the Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement (BDRM), Nagorik Uddyog and the IDSN related to the fourth UPR (Universal Periodic Review) session, February 2009, provided a number of recommendations on the human rights of Dalits in Bangladesh:
• The vulnerability of Dalits should be identified and more positive attitudes towards Dalits and their families engendered;
• Legislation protecting Dalits from attacks, harassment and misbehaviour must be enforced effectively;
• Dalits should be leased government land and supported by loans to build housing.
• The status of Dalit professionals should be upheld and employment quotas instituted for Dalits;
• Dalits should be helped to a sustainable livelihood.
• Dalits should be encouraged to be involved in policy making and protection of Dalits prioritised during natural disasters and societal hazards such as riots.
• A quota system for education of Dalit children should be implemented in all educational institutes.
• Existing constitutional provisions should be implemented and provisions against bonded labour should be enacted.
• Human rights advocacy programmes by Government and NGOs should be undertaken to empower Dalits, women in particular. Income generation schemes should be undertaken for Dalit women and children.
A draft report by the UN recommends a general framework for the Government of Bangladesh to comprehensively address caste-based discrimination. This should be used to frame the key national priorities for improving the situation of Dalits in Bangladesh. Conclusion Caste hierarchies and discrimination permeate both the Muslim and Hindu populations in Bangladesh, and perpetuate the poverty trap. Dalits live on an amount far below the poverty line with extremely limited access to health and education services. They suffer from very poor housing and lack employment opportunities. Different governments have undermined the principles of secularism, minority rights and basic human rights – including constitutional safeguards. Any attempt to promote rights-based development in Bangladesh must take great care not to perpetuate existing patterns of caste discrimination and must include special measures to reach the Dalits.
Over the last few years, there has been an increasing focus on and state recognition of the situation of Dalits in Bangladesh. The new Government authorities of Bangladesh have invited civil society to discuss the UPR review, and have generally adopted an inclusive and participatory process towards the Dalit community. The Dalit movement managed to raise their demands in the run-up to the national elections in December 2008, and the establishment of the new National Human Rights Commission also brings opportunities for increased attention to this issue. Yet, the widespread practice of discrimination, segregation and untouchability continues to impair the fundamental human rights of the Dalit community in Bangladesh.
Jamil Iqbal, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK.
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