Security Perceptions and Practices of the Indigenous People of the Chittagong Hills Tracts in Bangladesh

This paper explains the security perceptions and practices of the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh. In doing so, it adopts an interpretive ethnographic approach in which it posits, based on fieldwork experiences and by reflexive interpretation, that the security perceptions of the CHT indigenous people are primarily formed by the process of marginalisation, first in the state of Pakistan and later, from 1971 onward, in the state of Bangladesh. And, marginalisation occurred mainly due to the assimilationist nation-building policies and ill-conceived development projects pursued by the two states which not only affected the livelihood of the indigenous people, it also threatened their survival as identity groups. To cope with insecurities, the Paharis have employed a variety of strategies to protect their identity and livelihood which include constitutional political activism, non-constitutional armed struggle, peace building, international networking, coordination with national level rights groups, and several other mundane measures