SEXUAL MINORITY POPULATION IN BANGLADESH

Homosexuality continues to be criminalized in Bangladesh. Being a conservative society steeped in traditional values, many sexual minorities do not publicly express their sexuality. This creates a situation where identification of who is a sexual minority becomes difficult. This visibility is co-dependent not on the sexuality of individual, but on the gender role that the individual plays out in public.

The violator often makes the presumption as to the sexual activity of the individual based on the gender performance of the individual in public. Sexual assault and rape which we find amongst transgender, hijras, and kothis, along with those bisexual men who access public spaces, reporting a significantly higher quantum of rape and sexual assault as opposed to gay men. While most gay men are often “Straight acting” except in very specific gay spaces and can therefore be assimilated into the mainstream of masculinities in Bangladesh and thus be invisibilised.

For a long time people based their identity on either their gender self perception (i.e. kothis and hijras), or on their specific sexual act which did not necessarily have bearing on their sexuality or their identity (i.e. the sexual partners of kothis and hijras).

In Bangladesh, male sexualities are primarily framed around gender and sexual roles and gender-based identities, not around sexual orientation. Education and class also have a role to play in such framing.

The term “gay” evolved in the West to reflect not only sexual orientation, but also a political orientation involving a process of “coming out” and engaging with other gay identified men. The word “gay” does not mean homosexual.

There is an enormous amount of pressure on sexual minority individuals to get married and often they succumb to this pressure. Similarly, social obligations also include gender performance by the individual in a manner that is socially acceptable.

Sexual minorities in Bangladesh are subjected to a high degree of violence, extralegal and extrajudicial violation of rights, and a great amount of stigma and discrimination, but there is a gradual opening up of spaces, bettering of understanding, and development of sexual minority movement which should better the living conditions of sexual minorities.

This trend is interesting because it ties in neatly with other factors like the space at which the communities are accessed, the economic status at which the community becomes accessible, and social factors like the impact of marriage, of gender performance and public.

A kothi and/or a transgender/hijra is usually accessed at public cruising areas, and/or venues for public sex work. By contrast the bisexual person is usually the sex partner of the kothi or the transgender/hijra person, and is often the one paying for sex. Gay men often do not access public cruising areas and use other mediums like the Internet and gay specific socializing venues to access other gay men.

A much higher number of hijras, kothis, and bisexual identified individuals have reported that their economic status has been adversely affected because of either their sexuality or their gender identity.

Lesbians in Bangladesh are tied down by the double whammy of being women in a largely conservative society that is patriarchist where women cannot in general enjoy the same liberties as men, and being a sexual minority whose sexuality is socially, legally, and a religiously proscribed.

The universe of sexual minorities in Bangladesh, in other words, is as complex and diverse as any other society. Social standing, economic status, education, place of employment, sex and gender, religion, class, sexual practices, all play a part in locating the individual within this universe.

Most male-to-male sexual relationships in South Asia are based on gendered self-identities which in turn determine sex roles. The most visible of these male-to-male sex frameworks involve feminized males who identify themselves as kothis. The same-sex act is played out in a heterosexual context and with similar heterosexual power dynamics.

Homo sex is often considered as something non-serious (even sinful and criminal), but not the same as hetero sex. In countless responses kothis, gay men, hijras, bisexuals and even one lesbian referred to their sexual life in terms of ‘play-acting’ or ‘games’.

Religion’s attitude towards same-sex sexual activities and hetero-normative social conditioning often creates deep seated mismatch in the minds of same sex attracted persons. How they feel in terms of sexual desire, cannot be reconciled with how they understand sexual desire, in the hetero normative sense reinforced by religious.

Males (usually kothis and hijras) who are penetrated in sex are usually perceived to be “not-men”. For self-identified kothis then, the distinction between themselves and their male partners is based on gender identity based power equations and not on sexual identity. Both kothis and hijras draw their sexual partners from the general male population and do not consider themselves homosexual.

The trend of gender identity construction is often most effectively subverted by those who self identify as gay in Bangladesh. This is because the gay identity is primarily understood as a nearly equal relationship between two men, and such a relationship is both a emotional and sexual one.

The very fact that lesbians are also women in a society that is essentially discriminatory against women means that very few lesbians find the social space or the scope to effectively act out these gender dynamics.

When identities are constructed based on gender, the stereotypes of the woman, and of the man that both the sexual partners carry in their minds often extends to the sexual roles and activities that they perform. The man is understood to be the penetrating partner in the sexual act, and the woman is understood to be the penetrated partner in the sexual act.

The "man" in the sexual relationship firstly takes his superiority and power over the feminine partner for granted. If a man perceives his role in the sexual act to be that of the penetrator, then as long as he is penetrating in the sexual act, he continues to remain a man, and would not in his estimate become a homosexual.

A language of sexuality would not have had any major impact in HIV prevention intervention, since most men who have sex with men would not consider themselves to be gay. They would either be “men” in the traditional heterosexual understanding of what a man is, or they would be “not-men/women”. Therefore when the intervention is couched in the language of preventing man-to-man sexual transmission it'd be divorced from the life situation and understanding of those being addressed.

The kothi and the hijra, while adopting the gender stereotype of the woman, also imbibe in themselves the traditional vulnerabilities that women are supposed to have in Bangladesh as their station in life within society, and thus open themselves up to violence and discrimination.

For a long time kothi was conflated with hijra in the popular understanding of even same-sex attracted persons if those persons belonged to a particular class. In other words class played a significant role in how identities were constructed and understood.

Even today there is thin dividing line between the kothi and the hijra communities, and there are many instances of crossovers where a kothi would ultimately join the hijra household.

The discordance between traditionally affluent same-sex attracted people and the publicly visible kothi remained valid even when for the affluent same-sex attracted person the sexual act was played out in a gendered context as in the case of this interviewee. An invisible stamp of class inferiority always tainted the identity of the kothi.

Kothi identity has transformed itself due to mobilization of the community from being the gendered sexual marker of the individual to a social and political identity.

The development of a social and political kothi identity as a consequence of mobilization efforts has also translated into a greater acknowledgement and understanding of the kothi amongst same-sex attracted individuals across class boundaries, often in the process helping those individuals who have so far not associated with kothis because of class issues, but whose gender perception are similar to those of kothis, to adopt the kothi identity for themselves with much less resistance.

The gay identity is primarily different from the kothi at the hijra in so much as the essential basis of their identity is sexuality and not gender. However this difference is primarily appreciated only by the gay identified individuals themselves. For most same-sex attracted people who identify as either kothi are hijra, the gay identity is essentially a class identity, and is understood to have certain privileges which are not available to the average kothi or hijra. This often has created mistrust and distance between the communities.

It is also important to note that while mobilization of kothis was much easier since the kothis could be accessed within the social and cultural milieu that traditionally existed in Bangladesh, and therefore kothi mobilization began before gay organizing began in Bangladesh.

By contrast the kothi and the hijra communities have always enjoyed a close eye on mutually supportive relationship. At an individual level many kothis spent temporarily time with the hijra households, and in public space with hijras. Groups that started as support organizations to create social spaces and primarily work for rights have begun to understand the sensitivities of other communities and accommodate them in their various activities.

Today, to secure the rights of all sexual minorities Bangladesh needs both the strength of numbers as well as certain skill sets. Certain movements like the women's movement have made important gains for women's rights in Bangladesh. In other words there encountered and dealt with situations not very dissimilar from what sexual minorities are facing in Bangladesh. There is a degree of openness to words sexual minority concerns that exist within mainstream human rights organizations in Bangladesh, and these mainstream human rights organizations are in turn vital in taking human rights of sexual minorities issues to the state and the mainstream audience. Sexual minority groups in Bangladesh have also been successful in development of supportive collaboration and engagement with the academia.

Space and social geography plays a vital role in any kind of social and sexual interaction. A heterosexual society based on the values of patriarchy has entailed that women have historically not had adequate space within Bangladesh Society.

In conclusion we can say that there are cultural, social, religious, and legal impediments that sexual minority populations facing Bangladesh. This results in lack of expression of the individual desire, compulsory marriage, and lack of visibility of sexual minority issues. The situation of lesbian women continues to be extremely vulnerable and invisible given the social cultural framework of Bangladesh where women are marginalized anyways.

Action can be taken:

• A greater emphasis & focus on working on the issue of gender, sexuality and masculinity, and working with mainstream masculinity to challenge the heterosexual patriarchy of Bangladesh.
• Increased collaboration of sexual minority organizations with the women's movement the Bangladesh to improve the general situation of women in Bangladesh, and encouraging the women's movement to be accepting in a supportive of the lesbian movement in Bangladesh.
• Increased interaction and advocacy with the media to ensure proper, positive, human rights oriented and scientifically accurate depiction of homosexuality in the mass media.
• Increased emphasis and interaction with Faith Based Leaders to create spaces of tolerance within the religious sphere.
• Secure and strengthen the developing relationship between the sexual minority movement and the mainstream human rights movement as well as the academia.
• At least at the leadership level of the various sexual minority communities, to develop a body that meets regularly to manage internal differences and issues, and to strategies on how best to advocate and work for securing the rights of sexual minorities.
• without overtly unsettling the boat suddenly, to work incrementally towards legal reform including decriminalization.
• To engage with mainstream movements in Bangladesh to increase the public visibility of sexual minorities by participating in their public programmes, with the long-term goal of achieving self-contained visibility in the public sphere.
• Continue to leverage available resources for activities like HIV prevention and health to also secure an advocate for rights of such minorities
• Denial of human rights and justice: Law enforcement agencies/forces treat the kothis and hijra population as an outcast and ‘lesser’ citizens. The frequent abuses, violence in public places along with extortions, sexual assault and rapes are very common among Kothis and Hijras. It is extremely important to work on these areas.

Khurshid Jahan Haque spends her days in a small house in Khulna’s Tutpara with her two sons and their families. Other than her resolute posture, there is little that belies the former banker’s fiery past.

Khurshid Jahan was one of the thousands that joined the war effort during the war. But perhaps not many were like her. She joined the war with a five-month infant in her arms who had perhaps still not weaned off its mother’s milk. This is her story.

IN SEARCH OF THE MUKTIS

The Pakistan Army raided her village soon after the war broke out. They were looking for her brother, a deserter of the Pakistan Army who did not return after he came home on a vacation in January. They were looking for the siblings.

“That is when we went on the run in search of the Mukti Bahini camp.”

Khurshid Jahan and her elder brother reached the Tafalbari Camp deep inside the Sundarbans in June. “I had my five-month old in my arms.”

The trio was taken aback at the camp which literally housed hundreds of freedom fighters of all ages. With guns on their shoulders, the freedom fighters looked busy in their vests and shorts. “They began to flock around Bhaijaan as soon as they heard that he was from the army.”

The sub-sector commander, Major Ziauddin arrived there around noon. He told Haque that her training would begin at once. He asked, “Are you ready?”

She had little doubt in her mind. “Yes, I am ready.”

Her training began from the first day. First came the hand grenades. “Every day I trained in the mornings and afternoons.” Her son, young Taj, currently with Oxfam and working in Pakistan, would lie in a bed of leaves (Golpata, commonly found in the Sundarbans).

“Sometimes he would cry out loudly to get my attention. But I could not even pick him in my arms because of the training.”

“After the practical training I would memorise all the routines from a script.” She gradually learned to operate all kinds of firearms that there were — the old Three Nought Threes, the new sub machine guns. Then there were the light machine guns, land mines and of course the small side arms.

Khurshid Jahan used to have one under her pillow just in case.

Ziauddin had himself taken over the charge of training this brave woman. “But sometimes when I would not have much to do, I would train with my brother too.”

The college graduate was keen and learned fast. Taj was a handful then, as toddlers naturally are. “There was this little boy of about eight or ten. Salam. He used to take care of Taj.”

In a few days this young Salam learned all there was to learn for him. He could clean Taj’s bottles, make him milk, feed him, put him to sleep and so on. “And Taj also took a liking to this boy.”

After 10 days of training, she was taken to the headquarters at Tetulbuniya (Tetulbaria to locals). The sub-sector headquarters stretched for around four miles on both sides of the Tetulbuniya River, along the canals. Some 14,000 freedom fighters were there. “They had all kinds of arrangements including food, training and even medical treatment.”

But there was almost no work immediately after her training. “So I would clean all the weapons in my charge. I would repeatedly take them apart and put them together almost through the entire day.”

Khurshid Jahan managed to memorise names of the all the weapon parts at that time. She also learned what kind of a situation suited which weapon. “And naturally I kept up my target practice so I don’t lose touch.”

Her son was the only child in this huge camp of thousands of freedom fighters. So, soon enough he became a centre of attention. “Many had come to war leaving their children or younger siblings. And my Taj would remind them of their little ones.”

Soon enough little Taj became an attraction. “The first thing that freedom fighters would look for was Taj. He had become their source of entertainment, their source of laughter.”

I WANT TO FIGHT

Khurshid Jahan kept spending her days training other recruits, cooking, sewing and a little intelligence gathering. But that was not good enough for her. So one night, Khurshid went out of her camp and got on her small dinghy and began to row. She had learned to row with her gun on the lap balancing Taj between her legs. She would also have a knife tucked into her waist.

Khurshid Jahan went to the large boat at Rayendabazar where Major Ziauddin spent his nights. She crept into the boat leaving the sleeping Taj in the dinghy and stole Ziauddin’s uniform. Being taller than most men, no one else’s would fit her anyway. The next day Khurshid stood at the parade ground among the men pretending to be one of them. “I thought I would see some action if I could pass myself off as a man.”

But she was caught. “And I was given punishment too. They made me stand there under the sun for some time before I was given a dressing down.”

She even approached the sub-sector commander whose uniform she had stolen that night. “I told him sometime later that I had learnt all there was to learn. I want to go to war.”

Major Ziauddin had told her that she already was in the war. She remembers him saying that those who go to fight the enemy on the frontline are not the only freedom fighters. “Those who provide them support. Those who cook their food or help them sustain, those who care for them when they are sick are also soldiers.”

WOMEN’S COMMANDER

She was not to be disappointed. Khurshid Jahan was soon appointed as commander of the women freedom fighters.

She recalls her sub-sector commander Ziauddin, who still has not weaned himself off the Sundarbans and continues to live in the dense forest, telling her that her weapon was like her child. “Never let go of it, just like you would never let go of your son. Keep it clean all the time and make sure it shines.”

“When you go to sleep, keep your son to one side and the weapon to another.”

She was given a bunch of other responsibilities at that time too. She would have to give weapons training to the new recruits and explain rules of the camp. Khurshid Jahan was also told to make sure that the soldiers had enough food like handmade bread when they went to action, sew clothes and mosquito nets for the freedom fighters and care for the wounded.

She would visit the camps in the Sundarbans and give reports on the state of affairs at each camp.

“This is when I really mastered how to balance Taj between my legs as I rowed. I could not keep him on my lap so I did not have to waste time to put him and take up the gun.” The gun used to be on her lap instead.

TRAINEE BECOME TRAINER

“Initially I would divide the time between making bread, sewing clothes and training the recruits. My brother, I, Afzal Commander and two others use to train the recruits until noon.” Then she used to start preparing food for the soldiers late into the night with Taj beside her.

Everyone would eagerly wait for news from the front whenever they had a team out on action. “I still had the pain of not being able to go to the front. But whenever they returned victorious there was a sense of elation. When Asad, Pintu, Alamgir, Dhrupad, Chan Mia and another freedom fighter died in the Rayendabazar Operation, we were devastated.”

Khurshid Jahan remembers two particular incidents that were quite traumatic for her. She got lost in the Sundarbans within the first few days of her reaching the camp there.

“I would stay in the boat generally. But one day there was a humming sound from afar.” Thinking that it was enemy attack she got off the boat, ran into the jungle with Taj in her arms. But by the time it was nightfall, she could not find her way back. “I began to cry leaning on a tree trunk.”

She heard a blaring megaphone at this time. “I took out a pistol and shot two rounds into the sky. My hands were shaking.” The rescue party soon found her and they went back to camp.

Another time when Khurshid Jahan heard that there had been a number of casualties, she went off to that location for helping them. But on the way she spotted a Pakistani fighter jet. There was also the sound of a gunboat not too far away. “All of a sudden there was a hail of bullets. And I got off the boat and ran for cover.”

The place was low and it was during low tide. “But as the tide turned the water began to rise. I kept putting Taj higher up a tree until the water reached my neck.” But the firing would not stop until nightfall when they got back to the boats and quickly returned to their base.

“We never made it to the camp where there had been casualties.”

“After independence, on Dec 22, my brother and I went to our maternal uncle’s home in Fakirhat, after six long months in the wild. My husband Shamsul Alam Talukdar was the second-in-command of the sub-sector. He stayed back in the Sundarbans.”

Khurshid Jahan Haque did not get a certificate as a freedom fighter. “But that hardly matters to me. Many Razakars got certificate as freedom fighter.”

Pohela Boishakh : Just time to wait, a great news waiting for Bengali. Are you know it….? Its Nobo Borsho,   Bengali New Year 1418. Nobo means new and Borsho means year. Pohela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar,  celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura. It coincides with the New Year’s Days of numerous Southern Asian calendars.

Poila Boishakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. In India, in West Bengal and Assam it is a public (state) holiday and is publicly celebrated in mid April. In Bangladesh, it is a national holiday celebrated around 14 April according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy.

A 40-feet crocodile, portraying Bangladesh’s 40 years, will just one of the many floats forming part of a procession to celebrate the Bengali new year on Thursday.

Here comes a crocodile, with lifeless bodies, raped women and blood-soaked human heads in its stomach…with a band of young men on its back trying to subdue it with spears

New Year’s festivities are closely linked with rural life in Bengal. Usually on Pohela Boishakh, the home is thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned; people bathe early in the morning and dress in fine clothes. They spend much of the day visiting relatives, friends and neighbours. Special foods are prepared to entertain guests. This is one rural festival that has become enormously big in the cities, especially in Dhaka.

Boishakhi fairs are arranged in many parts of the country. Various agricultural products, traditional handicrafts, toys, cosmetics, as well as various kinds of food and sweets are sold at these fairs. The fairs also provide entertainment, with singers and dancers staging jatra (traditional plays), pala gan, kobigan, jarigan, gambhira gan, gazir gan and alkap gan. They present folk songs as well as baul, marfati, murshidi and bhatiali songs. Narrative plays like Laila-Majnu, Yusuf-Zulekha and Radha-Krishna are staged. Among other attractions of these fairs are puppet shows and merry-go-rounds.

Many old festivals connected with New Year’s Day have disappeared, while new festivals have been added. With the abolition of the zamindari system, the punya connected with the closing of land revenue accounts has disappeared. Kite flying in Dhaka and bull racing in Munshiganj used to be very colourful events. Other popular village games and sports were horse races, bullfights, cockfights, flying pigeons, and boat racing. Some festivals, however, continue to be observed; for example, bali (wrestling) in Chittagong and gambhira in Rajshahi are still popular events.

Observance of Pohela Boishakh has become popular in the cities. Early in the morning, people gather under a big tree or on the bank of a lake to witness the sunrise. Artists present songs to usher in the new year. People from all walks of life wear traditional Bengali attire: young women wear white saris with red borders, and adorn themselves with churi bangles, ful flowers, and tip (bindis). Men wear white paejama (pants) or lungi(dhoti/dhuti) (long skirt) and kurta (tunic). Many townspeople start the day with the traditional breakfast of panta bhat (rice soaked in water), green chillies, onion, and fried hilsa fish.

Folk songs and ‘Jatra’ (a traditional stage drama) will also feature during the celebrations on the day, he added.

The central attraction of Pahela Baishakh is the cultural programme of Chhayanaut at Ramna Batamul where stages are being put up amid tight security, which has been in place since the 2001 bomb attack.

Hrishij Shipli Gosthi will organise its own event featuring folk songs in front of Shishu Park. This year, its theme will be urging people to rise with fresh energy.

Pohela Boishakh can be traced back to its origins during the Mughal period when Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar to streamline tax collection. In the course of time, it became a part and parcel of Bangali culture and tradition.

The name ‘Baishakh’ is derived from the name of a star ‘Bishakha’.

On that day Akbar used to go to his subjects and distribute sweets among them

Jahanara Begum and her husband are in a dilemma about how to sustain their family of five.

On one hand, they have come to realise that the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, must be saved from destruction to maintain biodiversity, which in turn calls for a stop to cutting down trees.

On the other, the realisation has put their survival in doubt as they're deeply worried about finding an alternative source of income to sustain their family. Jahanara's husband was a wood-cutter.

"He used to cut trees in the Sundarbans. Now, he does not," Begum told bdnews24.com on Sept 28 in Sharankhola when this correspondent visited the remote areas with some Bangladeshi and American officials.

"All of us, through the IPAC activities, have realised that we can save the Sundarbans. However, the realisation is forcing us to go hungry as we don't have any alternative means of livelihood," said Jahanara, who did not mention her husband's name.

She was referring to the Integrated Protected Area Co-management, a project being funded by the USAID for the protection of the Sundarbans and its rich biodiversity.

Jahanara said the people of Kuriakhali, her village under Sharonkhola union in Bagerhat, now cooperate with the forest department officials and refrain from illegal logging and fishing.

"Give us work. Otherwise, we will be forced into our previous practices. Should we starve to death for being conscious?" questioned Jahanara, who was one of the villagers assembled at the Sharonkhola range to meet Ertharin Cousin, the US ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome.

Cousin visited the remote area to witness the progress of the IPAC project in the Sundarbans that was launched around seven months before.

Marjina Begum, another villager, voiced a similar demand.

"We don't have the means for even a single meal without foraging in Sundarbans for honey, fish or wood," Marjina told bdnews24.com.

She said that the recent awareness created due to the programme has persuaded the villagers to release a deer which made its way into the village one week ago.

"Before the project, we would have just eaten it," she added.

"People in the surrounding areas are becoming jobless. The IPAC cannot succeed if alternative livelihoods are not made," Mozammel Hossain, president of co-management committee at the Sharankhola range, told bdnews24.com.

He suggested that the people could be trained for alternative income generations such as tailoring, embroidery, poultry and other jobs.

According to the government figures, about five million people are directly dependent on the Sundarbans, which covers 140,000 hectares of Bangladesh's South Western region, for their livelihood.

Ambassador Cousin agreed that the local people need alternative income.

"We are working on it. We have just started the activities. This [alternative income generation] is on our agenda," Denise Rollins, USAID mission director in Bangladesh, told bdnews24.com on Thursday, adding, "It will take time."

"We are observing positive changes in the attitude of the villagers after the launch of the IPAC. I am hopeful that the forest can be saved with the help of the locals," Akbar Hossain, the conservator of forest in the Sundarbans range, told bdnews24.com.

However, the forest conservator went on to say that alternative sources of income for the locals are a must to maintain the project's success.

Every two years, the forest department forms a co-management committee with the villagers through vote. At the same time, it manages the village conservation committee which is the lowest tier of the co-management committee.

So far, two co-management committees have been formed. Two more 29-member co-management committees will be formed in two other forest ranges, Utpal Dutta, the IPAC's governance specialist told bdnews24.com on Friday.

Dutta said the project earmarked 76 villages under 17 upazilas surrounding the Sundarbans.

Reported by Kamran Reza Chowdhury, senior correspondent of bdnews24.com
Dhaka, 02 October 2010

একদিকে সুন্দরবন, অন্যদিকে সংসার
Translated into English by: Shiplu
এক দিকে সুন্দরবন রক্ষা, অন্যদিকে পাঁচজনের সংসার চালানো- এ নিয়ে দোটানায় পড়েছেন জাহানারা বেগম ও তার স্বামী।

জাহানারার স্বামী বুঝতে পেরেছেন ধ্বংসের হাত থেকে বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে বড় ম্যানগ্রোভ বন ও এর জীববৈচিত্র্য রক্ষায় বনের গাছ কাটা বন্ধ করতে হবে। এ গাছ বিক্রি করেই চলে তাদের সংসার।

অন্যদিকে তিন সন্তানকে খাওয়াতে পরাতে তাদের দরকার অন্য কোনো আয়ের ব্যবস্থা।

গত ২৮ সেপ্টেম্বর বাংলাদেশ ও যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের কয়েকজন কর্মকর্তার সঙ্গে বাগেরহাটের শরণখোলা উপজেলার দুর্গম এলাকা পরিদর্শনে গেলে জাহানারা বেগম বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমের প্রতিবেদককে বলেন, সে (তার স্বামী) সুন্দরবনের গাছ কেটে কাঠ সংগ্রহ করতো। এখন আর গাছ কাটে না।

স্বামীর নাম উল্লেখ না করে জাহানারা জানান, আইপ্যাক (ইনটিগ্রেটেড প্রোটেকটেড এরিয়া কো-ম্যানেজমেন্ট) প্রকল্পের কার্যক্রমের মধ্য দিয়ে তারা বুঝেছেন তারাই পারেন সুন্দরবন রক্ষা করতে। কিন্তু এই উপলব্ধিই তাদের বাধ্য করেছে উপোস থাকতে। কারণ আয় রোজগারের বিকল্প কোনো পথ নেই তাদের।

সুন্দরবন ও এর সমৃদ্ধ জীববৈচিত্র্য রক্ষায় যুক্তরাষ্ট্র সরকারের আন্তর্জাতিক উন্নয়ন সংস্থার অর্থ সহায়তায় (ইউএসএআইডি) আইপিএসি প্রকল্প বাস্তবায়িত হচ্ছে।

শরণখোলা উপজেলার কুরিয়াখালী গ্রামের বাসিন্দা জাহানারা জানান, বন রক্ষায় গ্রামের মানুষ বনবিভাগের কর্মকর্তাদের সহযোগিতা করছে। তারা এখন আর অবৈধভাবে কাঠ কাটে না, মাছও মারে না।

তবে তার কথা হচ্ছে, তাদের আয়ের বিকল্প উপায় না করলে বেশিদিন তারা সহযোগিতার মনোভাব ধরে রাখতে পারবেন না। তাদের আবার ফিরে যেতে হবে অবৈধভাবে কাঠ আহরণ আর বিষ দিয়ে খালে মাছ মারার পুরনো পেশায়।

তার কথা হলো, বন রক্ষার সচেতন হয়ে তো তাদের পেট ভরবে না। উপার্জন করতে না পারলে তাদের তো না খেয়ে মরতে হবে।

গ্রামের আরো মানুষ একই কথা জানালো পরিদর্শনে যাওয়া মার্কিন কর্মকর্তা আর্থারিন কাজিনকে। রোমে অবস্থিত জাতিসংঘের সংস্থাসমূহের মার্কিন প্রতিনিধি তিনি।

প্রায় সাত মাস আগে চালু হওয়া আইপিএসি প্রকল্পের অগ্রগতি দেখার জন্য কাজিন শরণখোলার এই প্রত্যন্ত এলাকা সফর করেন।

একই দাবি করা গ্রামবাসীর মধ্যে ছিলেন মর্জিনা বেগম।

তিনি বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, মধু সংগ্রহ, মাছ ধরা ও কাঠের জন্য বনে না গেলে তাদের গ্রামের মানুষ এক বেলার খাবারও জোগাড় করতে পারবে না।

মর্জিনা জানান, কয়েক সপ্তাহ আগে একটি হরিণ লোকালয়ে চলে এসেছিলো। মাংসের জন্য মানুষ সেটাকে না মেরে আবার বনে ছেড়ে দিয়ে এসেছে।

শরণখোলা রেঞ্জের সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা কমিটির (কো-ম্যানেজমেন্ট কমিটি) সভাপতি মোজাম্মেল হোসেন বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, "বন রক্ষায় সচেতন হওয়ার সঙ্গে সঙ্গে সুন্দরবনের আশপাশের মানুষ কর্মহীন হয়ে পড়েছে। এসব মানুষের জন্য আয় রোজগারের বিকল্প উপায় না করলে আইপিএসি প্রকল্প সাফল্য নাও পেতে পারে।"

সরকারি হিসেবে, প্রায় ৫০ লাখ মানুষ সরাসরি সুন্দরবনের ওপর নির্ভরশীল। দেশের দক্ষিণ পশ্চিমাঞ্চলের এই বনের আয়তন প্রায় এক লাখ ৪০ হাজার হেক্টর।

স্থানীয়দের বিকল্প কর্মসংস্থানের দাবির বিষয়টি স্বীকার করেছেন মার্কিন কর্মকর্তা কাজিন।

বাংলাদেশে ইউএসএআইডি মিশনের পরিচালকের ডেনিস রোলিনস বৃহস্পতিবার বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, "বিকল্প আয়ের ব্যবস্থা করার ব্যাপারে আমরা কাজ করছি। আমরা কেবল এই কাজ শুরু করেছি। আমাদের কর্মসূচিতে স্থানীয়দের জন্য বিকল্প কর্মসংস্থানের বিষয়টি আছে।"

"এতে আরো সময় লাগবে", বলেন তিনি।

সুন্দরবন রেঞ্জের বনসংরক্ষক আকবর হোসেন বলেন, "আইপিএসি প্রকল্প শুরুর পর আশপাশের গ্রামবাসীদের আচরণে ইতিবাচক পরিবর্তন আসতে শুরু করেছে। স্থানীয়দের সহযোগিতায় বন রক্ষা সম্ভব হবে বলে আমি আশাবাদী।"

তিনি মনে করেন, বন রক্ষার এই উদ্যোগ সফল ও টেকসই করতে চাইলে স্থানীয়দের জন্য বিকল্প আয়ের ব্যবস্থা করতে হবে।

বনবিভাগ ভোটের মাধ্যমে দুই বছরের জন্য গ্রামবাসীদের নিয়ে সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা কমিটি করেছে। এ ছাড়া এই কমিটির নিুতম পর্যায় গ্রাম সংরক্ষণ কমিটিও দেখভাল করে থাকে বনবিভাগ।

আইপিএসি বিশেষজ্ঞ উৎপল দত্ত বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, এ পর্যন্ত দুটি সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা কমিটি করা হয়েছে। বনের আরো দুটি রেঞ্জে ২৯ সদস্যের আরো দুটি সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা কমিটি করবে বনবিভাগ।

তিনি জানান, আইপিএসি প্রকল্পের আওতায় সুন্দরবনের চারপাশের ১৭টি উপজেলার ৭৬টি গ্রামকে অন্তর্ভুক্ত করা হয়েছে।

কামরান রেজা চৌধুরী
বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকম জ্যেষ্ঠ প্রতিবেদক
ঢাকা, অক্টোবর ০২

I have awarded scholarship by the International scholarship team of International AIDS society to join the upcoming AIDS 2010 conference in Vianna, Austria as an international delegates which will be held in 18-23 July 2010.

Hopefully i will join this prestigious international conference including few pre-conference in vienna, austria in july 2010.