& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Oli Ahmed tells The Daily Star

Peace treaty should be signed with India, not PCJSS

By Nurul Kabir
Former chief of the National Committee on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (NCCHT) Col (Retd) Oli Ahmed believes that no agreement with any tribal' or ganisation can bring peace in the troubled Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
For peace and stability in the CHT. Bangladesh actually needs to sign an accord with India, says Oli Ahmed, former convener of the NCCHT
A leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Ahmed, who headed the NCCHT, a ten-member committee comprising MPs from both the then ruling party and the opposition from 1992 to 1996, made this observation late last week.
Claiming that the NCCHT headed by him had always been transparent about negotiations with the tribal leaders. Oli Ahmed also demanded that the Sovernment must make the raft of the accord public before
signing the agreement.
Asked to comment on the government's plan to sign a Gace agreement with the Par-ttya Chattagram Jana Sang-hati Samity (PCJSS) Ahmed
said: We all want peace in the trouble-ridden hill region, but no agreement with any organisation of the tribal people of the area would bring in peace there."
Explaining his position. Ahmed, who had visited the Chakma refugees living in camps in Tripura and held several rounds of official and unofficial talks with the Indian authorities. said that his experiences with the NCCHT convinced him that the PCJSS had been operating under "strong influence of the government of India."
"I am afraid, at the instigation of India, some other tribal groups would come up to create fresh problems in the CHT. even after a peace agreement is signed with the PCJSS in the near future." said Ahmed. "In that case, what is the use of signing a peace treaty with the PCJSS? An agreement with India on this issue could rather prove to be more effective."
The NCCHT headed by Oli Ahmed had held 13 rounds of talks with the PCJSS, the political apex body of the armed Shantibahini that claimed to have been fighting for the cause of 'minorities' living in the CHT.
Following negotiations, a cease-fire was announced and more than four thousands, hill people, out of about 40 thousand who took refuge in the neighbouring Tripura state of India, returned home in two batches till July 1994. The negotiations reached a deadlock the same year as. according to Oli Ahmed, the "PCJSS leaders developed the tendency of coming up with fresh demands every time."
However, with the taking over of power by Awami League (AL) headed by Sheikh Hasina, the NCCHT was reconstituted. The Chief Whip of Jatiya Sangsad and AL leader Abul Hasnat Abdullah replaced Oli Ahmed as convener of the NCCHT.
The reconstituted NCCHT Initiated fresh dialogue with PCJSS in December last year and has so far held six round of talks. Around seven thousand refugees returned home from Tripura in two batches between March and April this year. A peace agreement i?%xpected to be signed between the two sides during the next round of talks, now scheduled for November 16.
Asked to comment on the draft agreement to be signed between the government and the PCJSS. the former NCCHT chief said: "I have not seen the draft. The government should not sign any agreement sidetracking the Bengalis living in the CHT. While signing the accord, the government should not miss the point that half of the present population of the CHT is Bengalis. "
OU Ahmed, at this point, accused the government of maintaining "extraordinary secrecy" in dealing with the PCJSS which, according to him, "is really mysterious." He also demanded that the draft agreement be made public before signing of the accord.
Replying to a question. Oli Ahmed said that the NCCHT led by him was very transparent. We talked with both tribal people and Bengalis, civil and military officials, refugees and those who provided them shelters, experts, human rights activists and journalists. After every meeting with the PCJSS. we used to report the developments to a high-level National Council headed by the then prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and then disclose those to the nation through journalists."
Asked whether it was correct for the BNP not to work with the reconstituted NCCHT, OH Ahmed said: "May be, we have - not done the right thing in this case, not to mention the fact that the ruling party has failed to create a congenial atmosphere for the Opposition to work with them on any committee. But let me tell you that the governing party should have been more serious, even for the sake of Its own political Interest, about BNP's participation on the issue."
Replying to a query, the BNP leader said no member of the reconstituted NCCHT had ever consulted him. "A bureaucrat of the 'techhlcal committee.' working with the political body, sought my views in a few areas and 1 gave my views. 1 do not. however, know whether my views were taken seriously by Mr Abdullah and his colleagues on the NCCHT."
Asked about his views about the PCJSS demand for withdrawing the Bengali settlers from the CHT. Ahmed said that it was unconstitutional, and irrational too. to raise such a demand. "It ts the constitutional
right of every citizen to buy and sell property including lands in any part of the country. The hill people are free to buy lands in any area. Then why should the Bengalis be forbidden to purchase the same commodity in the hill areas?” Ahmed argued. "If it is a problem for them, the hill people are free not to sell their lands to Bengalis."
Asked to be specific about the "government-sponsored .settlement of the Bengalis in the CHT." the BNP leader said that there had been no government-sponsored Bengali settlement in the CHT after the fall of Ershad regime in 1990. "For the sake of peace, the present government can also be allowed to refrain from patronising th? Bengalis to settle there. But what is more important, the government has to rehabilitate the 'Bengalis, likely to be removed from what the PCJSS claims, lands owned by the tribal people in the khas lands of the CHT region."
Requester! to comment on the philosophy of granting regional autonomy to the national minorities." the BNP leader said. "Granting autonomy to the hill people would result in dismantling of the country."
On the controversial issue of withdrawing army from the troubled zone, OU Ahmed said: "Any attempt to withdraw the army from the CHT is bound to prove to be suicidal for the entire nation."
Presence of the army is necessary for both the communities. Bengalis and the tribals, Ahmed said arguing that only three to five thousand tribals were creating troubles for around one million peace loving people — Bengalis and tribals combined — living In the region.
Asked about allegation of frequent military operation against the hill people. Ahmed said. "If the Shantibahini surrenders illegal arms, the armed forces would not need to conduct any operation."