Experiencing Land Loss: Land Dispossession in the Name of National Security in Sylhet District, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the inhabitants of Ratargul living next to the Sylhet Cantonment of the Bangladesh Army. Since 1977, construction of the cantonment has gradually driven villagers from their land, with no significant opposition. This alienation will soon reach full completion through the new extension plans of the cantonment. Villagers anticipate this expansion with fear and express anger at the poverty caused by land appropriation. However, in their accounts, dukkho (grief) overshadows their fear and anger. What do they grieve for, exactly? The article suggests that dukkho is an expression of grief over material losses but also of pain over the disappearance of previous forms of life. Additionally, dukkho represents villager’s regret over missed opposition opportunities that did not materialize because they were misled; as low-caste Hindus they lack solidarity; and it is still unclear who is responsible for the land capture: the army or the government.

KEYWORDS:

• dukkho (grief)
• gradual land loss
• impoverishment
• militarization
• national security

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Some parts of this paper were published as a chapter in Hölzle (2022).

2 Pseudonym

3 “[T]he term Bihari as it is used in Bangladesh does not necessarily refer to people of Bihar, India. Bihari is a pejorative term used to identify the non-Bengali Urdu speakers, who during the Liberation War of 1971 sided with the Pakistani Army and therefore ‘are considered as enemies of Bangladesh’s liberation’” (Saikia 2011, 263, footnote 61).