CHT Peace Accord
Incomplete execution will increase unrest
Says Santu Larma
Leaders of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) yesterday said the unrest in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) would worsen if the CHT Peace Accord was not completely implemented.
PCJSS Chairman Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma said no marked progress in implementing the accord can be seen though it was an electoral pledge of the present Awami League-led government.
He was reading out a statement at a press conference PCJSS organised in the capital's Hotel Sundarban marking the accord's 15th anniversary.
Jyotirindra demanded proper implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Act, 1998 and completion of the guidelines under which the CHT Regional Council would coordinate activities of the three hill districts -- Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban.
Though the government is reaching the end of its tenure, CHT Regional Council is yet to be functional while the dominance of Bangladesh Army and colonial-style communal repression continues unabated, he said.
The hill districts are undergoing ethnic cleansing as indigenous people's houses are torched, households looted and land grabbed while indigenous women are abducted, raped and murdered, added Jyotirindra, also known as Santu Larma.
He also demanded elections to CHT Regional Council and the three Hill District Councils after guidelines for the preparation of the voter list and election guidelines of the three districts' chairmen and members were ready.
The contradictory provisions of CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001, as pointed out by a July 30 inter-ministerial meeting, should also be immediately amended while a timeframe should be present for the army's withdrawal, he added.
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