Hillside farmland in Lama, Bandarban, where land ownership linked to Quantum Foundation has sparked discussion about Indigenous land rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Illustration: The Times of Jumland.
Bangladesh, Bandarban | March 16, 2026: In Lama, land is not simply a piece of property. For Indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, land represents history, identity, and survival. Families have cultivated these slopes for generations, building communities that existed long before modern development projects arrived in the region. In the hills, even a few acres can sustain a family for generations. That is why registering hundreds of acres under a single project inevitably draws attention across the region.
Recent disclosures about land ownership in Lama Upazila, Bandarban, have sparked growing discussion among local residents and observers. Land records indicate that by 2022, 640.93 acres of land in the mouzas of Doluchhari, Boro Bomu, and Rajbila had been registered. These lands are reportedly held under Quantum Foundation, as well as in the names of its chairman, Shahid Al-Bukhari, widely known as Guruji, and his wife, Nahar Al-Bukhari.
Local residents and Indigenous activists say the officially recorded 640.93 acres may represent only part of the land associated with the project. According to several community members in Lama, land listed in official records may be only a portion of a much larger area that has gradually come under the control of the project over time. Some local sources allege that as much as 2,500 acres of land in Lama upazila may now be under its effective control, including lands that community members claim were acquired from nearby residents through different methods. These claims have not been independently verified and remain part of an ongoing public discussion.
Community observers have also questioned the structure of land registration. They note that while such land is often expected to be purchased in the name of a foundation or institution when used for development projects, several plots appear to have been registered under the private names of individuals connected to the project, including Shahid Al-Bukhari and his spouse.
Quantum Foundation is known in Bangladesh for its meditation programs, personal development courses, and social initiatives. The organization promotes the Quantum Method, a meditation-based system focused on mental discipline and personal growth. It has also established charitable and educational projects, including Quantum Cosmo School in Lama, which provides education and support to disadvantaged children from different backgrounds.
Educational and social initiatives are widely recognized as beneficial to remote communities. Schools, healthcare services, and development projects are needed in many parts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. However, in Lama, attention has increasingly focused not only on the existence of these projects but also on the scale and structure of land ownership associated with them.
Questions are being raised about whether the scale of land connected to the project reflects the actual needs of a social initiative, or whether broader land accumulation may be taking place. Observers say that greater transparency in land records and approval procedures would help clarify how large development projects operate within the sensitive land environment of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The issue has received further scrutiny due to an environmental case involving the foundation. In 2025, the Department of Environment reportedly fined Quantum Foundation Tk 55 lakh for illegally cutting hills in Lama during construction. Authorities stated that this activity damaged the local ecosystem and violated environmental regulations in the fragile hill landscape.
Beyond environmental issues, some local residents and Indigenous activists have questioned land acquisition practices linked to development projects in Lama. They allege that the total area involved may exceed official records, though exact figures remain disputed and require greater transparency in land documentation.
Another concern sometimes mentioned by community members relates to the cultural impact of residential educational institutions operating in remote hill areas. Some observers worry that Indigenous students studying in such institutions may gradually lose connection with their own traditional religions, languages, and cultural practices. Community leaders have occasionally expressed concern that young students raised in residential environments may become more familiar with majority religious traditions than with their ancestral beliefs. These concerns remain part of the ongoing public debate rather than the subject of any formal investigation.
The discussion around Lama is also shaped by the region’s unique legal framework. The Chittagong Hill Tracts is governed by special administrative arrangements, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation of 1900, the Hill District Council Acts, and the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord. These frameworks were created to safeguard the land rights of Indigenous communities whose lives and cultures are deeply connected to the hills.
Because of this history, land ownership in the region is not merely a technical legal issue. It carries deeper implications involving trust, identity, and long-term security for communities that have lived in the hills for centuries.
Lama has long been a sensitive area when it comes to land. Over the past few decades, rubber plantations, commercial projects, and settlement expansion have significantly altered land-use patterns in parts of the upazila. Indigenous communities in several areas have repeatedly raised concerns about losing access to lands they traditionally depended on for cultivation and livelihood. Over time, Indigenous leaders have warned that gradual changes in land ownership patterns could threaten the long-term security of traditional communities in Lama and other parts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The situation, therefore, raises an important question that deserves careful discussion. When land is acquired for a foundation or development project, should it be registered under the organization itself, or under the private names of individuals connected to that organization?
In many parts of the world, land used for charitable or non-profit activities is commonly held under the name of a trust, foundation, or institutional body, rather than under personal ownership. Such arrangements help ensure transparency and make it clear that the land serves a social purpose rather than a private one.
For many residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the issue goes beyond a single organization or a single land record. It reflects broader questions about how development should take place in Indigenous territories and how the rights of local communities can be protected at the same time.
International frameworks, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognize that Indigenous peoples have significant rights over their ancestral lands and territories. Many observers argue that development projects in the hills must move forward in ways that respect these rights while maintaining transparency in land governance.
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, land is never simply real estate. It determines whether Indigenous communities can continue to live, farm, and preserve their cultures in the mountains their ancestors inhabited for generations. Whenever large areas of land change ownership, the issue inevitably becomes larger than legal paperwork.
In other words, the issue goes beyond land ownership. It is about whether the Indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts will be able to continue living on their ancestral land and preserve their culture for future generations.
By The Times of Jumland | Bandarban Desk
