Bureaucrats to blame for failure of CHT accord

Initiatives to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord 1997 have not been successful due to non-cooperation from several unscrupulous bureaucrats, said former chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof Mizanur Rahman yesterday.

“I [as NHRC chairman] held a series of talks with CHT leaders, army officials and others; they welcomed my initiatives… There is context of full implementation of the treaty. [But] we have some trust issues with each other; some bureaucrats are liable for this,” he added.

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Mizanur was addressing the publication ceremony of a book titled “Biborno Pahar: Parbotto Chattogram – Sangkat O Samadhan” (Bleak Mountains: Chittagong Hill Tracts – Problems and Solutions) by Mongol Kumar Chakma.

Bangladesh Adivasi Forum organised the programme at the DVA auditorium in Dhanmondi.

“If the nature of the problem is political, then the solution must be political; no economic or military solution is viable,” he said about the solution of CHT problem, adding, “All other problems will be solved automatically if the land issue is solved.”

“The situation in the hills is not good now; human rights are being violated there,” said Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Adivasi Forum. “The problem of CHT should be seen through the eye of the hilly people.”

“State and powerful people think the state become strong by snatching voting rights and making them [the general people] powerless. But the state is defeated if it dishonours its people,” he added. 

Poet and journalist Sohrab Hossain said, “The CHT peace accord is said to be implemented; but the land commission has not been implemented in 22 years of the accord. It’s shocking.”

Dipayan Khisa, information and publicity secretary of Adivasi Forum, presented the summery on the book while Purna Dewan presented the writer’s profile at the programme.