The government is reluctant to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Treaty that ended a bush war of more than two decades in the region in1997, said the speakers at a meeting yesterday.

They said since the independence of the country, the CHT region has been virtually under the unbroken spell of army control

that indicated a discriminatory attitude of the successive governments to hill people.

The meeting was organised in memory of Manabendra Narayan Larma, the founder of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), at the Liberation War Museum auditorium in the city.

Some misguided activists of PCJSS assassinated Manabendra on November 10, 1983.

“The assassination of Manabendra was a national and international conspiracy,” said Jyotirindra Bodhi Priya Larma alias Santu Larma, the president of PCJSS in his key speech at the meeting.

“Manabendra worked and sacrificed his life not only for the Jumma people but also for the marginal poor people of the country,” he said.

Santu Larma, who is also the chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, said the rulers of the country have been depriving and torturing the hill people for long.

Jyotiprova Chakma, elder sister of Manabendra, spoke about the life and character of the deceased.

Rupayan Dewan and Laxmi Prasad Chakma narrated their experiences while working with M N Larma.

The meeting was also addressed by Communist Party of Bangladesh President Monzurul Ahsan Khan, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haq Inu, Politburo member of the Worker's Party Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Anthropologist Prof H K Arefin, Labour leader Abdullah Sarkar, and Secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolon Rabindranath Soren.

Ajay Roy of Sammilito Samajik Andolon presided over the discussion marked by songs and recitations rendered by both Jumma and Bangali artists.

Our Khagrachhari correspondent reported that the district unit of PCJSS also held a meeting in memory of M N Larma. It was presided over by Birendra Lal Chakma.

The speakers at the meeting demanded full implementation of the peace treaty signed between the government and the PCJSS.