Wadud Bhuiyan

Wadud Bhuiyan (born 5 January 1965) is a Bangladeshi politician. He was the first and only Bengali politician to have been elected to the parliament from a Chittagong Hill Tracts constituency of Bangladesh.[1] Bhuiyan was elected twice as the member of the Jatiyo Sangshad (Bangladesh Parliament) from Khagrachari constituency respectively in the 6th and 8th National Parliamentary Elections.[2] In addition, he served as Chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board from 2002 to 2006. He currently holds the posts of assistant employment secretary of Central Executive Committee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)[3] and president of the opposition party's Khagrachari local unit as well.[4]

Wadud Bhuiyan
ওয়াদুদ ভূইয়া
Member of Parliament
for Khagrachari
In office
25 February 1996 – 30 March 1996
Preceded byKalparanjan Chakma
In office
10 October 2001 – 29 October 2006
Personal details
Born(1965-01-05)5 January 1965
Khagrachari, Bangladesh
NationalityBangladeshi
Political partyBangladesh Nationalist Party
Websitewadudbhuiyan.com

Early life and education

Bhuiyan was born on 5 January 1965 at Ramgarh Upazila, Khagrachari District. He obtained his M.S.S degree on Sociology from Chittagong University in 1986.

Political career

Student politics

Bhuiyan was active in student politics at Chittagong University. He was the convener, which was equivalent to the post of president, of the Chittagong University unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of BNP, from 1987 to 1989. Concurrently, he served as the president of Ramgarh unit of the student organization from 1980 to 1990.

Public office

In 1989, he was elected as the counselor of the Khagrachari Hill District Council with a majority of few thousands votes. He later resigned, along with another counselor, from the post, protesting the then-chairman Samiran Dewan's alleged corruption.[5] In the 6th Jatiyo Sangshad election of 1996, he was nominated and elected as the candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party from Khagrachari constituency.

In 9th Jatiyo Sangshad election of 2001, he was again nominated as the candidate of the BNP and elected by a significant margin.[6]

He had also participated in the 5th (1991) and 7th (1996) parliamentary elections as the sole candidate of BNP, only to have been defeated by comparatively close margins.[7]

In 2001, he was appointed as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, with BNP chairperson and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia heading the committee.[8]

In 2002, he was appointed as the first non-ethnic civilian chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, a government agency established in 1978 by Ziaur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and then-President of Bangladesh.[9]

In the 10th parliamentary election, he couldn't participate due to his imprisonment during military influenced then-caretaker government's period for misappropriating public funds.[10] In the last parliamentary election held in 2018, his candidacy was revoked by the High Court as well.[11]

Political activism

He is known as the leader of the people with Bengali lineage living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He was also known for his vocal position to the militant activities of Shanti Bahini, the rebellious military wing of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) that operated until the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed between the Bangladesh government and the PCJSS in 1997.

Bhuiyan was the architect[12] behind the foundation of Parbatya Chattagram Sama-Odhikar Andolon (Chittagong Hill Tracts Equal-Rights Movement), an organization which demanded an equal share for Bengali in any dispensation intended for ethnic people.[13]

Arrests

He was also arrested during the caretaker government's period in 2007. A special court in Chittagong sentenced him to 20 years in jail.[14] However, this conviction order, along with seven orders, was later stayed by the High Court,[15] and he was granted bail.[16]

References
  1. Amena Mohsin (2003). The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: On the Difficult Road to Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  2. "Members of Parliament : Profile".
  3. "Cases, arrests worrying opposition candidates". New Age | The Most Popular Outspoken English Daily in Bangladesh. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  4. "Oppositions struggle to survive attacks, police raids". New Age | The Most Popular Outspoken English Daily in Bangladesh. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  5. "1st Elected Members: Khagrachari Hill Districts Council".
  6. "Bangladesh Parliament Election - Detail Results - Amar Desh Online". www.amardesh.com. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  7. "Compare 1991, 1996, 2001 results - Amardesh".
  8. "Standing Committee on Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts".
  9. Amena Mohsin (2003). The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: On the Difficult Road to Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  10. Jamil, Dr Ishtiaq; Panday, Pranab Kumar (1 November 2008). "The Elusive Peace Accord in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the Plight of the Indigenous People". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 46 (4): 464–489. doi:10.1080/14662040802461141. ISSN 1466-2043.
  11. "BNP's Wadud turned down in candidacy appeal". The Daily Star. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  12. "Curfew clamped on Khagrachari town : Dhaka Mirror". Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  13. "Militarization in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh" (PDF). IWGIA.
  14. "Ex-BNP MP Wadud Bhuiyan jailed for 20 years". bdnews24.com.
  15. "Conviction order of seven stayed by HC". The Daily Star.
  16. "HC grants bail to ex-BNP MP Wadud Bhuiyan for six months". The Daily Star.
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