& 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

16 Years of CHT Accord

Non-implementation may revive armed conflict

Fear indigenous, civil society leaders

Staff Correspondent
Non-implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord may propel the armed rebels towards initiating another bloody struggle to achieve their right to land and self-rule, indigenous and civil society leaders said yesterday.
Dhaka University Prof Meshbah Kamal said rehabilitation of over half a million CHT people, including 65, 000 repatriated refugees and 92,000 internally displaced families, remained uncertain with the accord unimplemented.
"There is every chance that the disgruntled indigenous people may turn to a bloody armed conflict again," he told a discussion at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.
Parbatya Chattagram
Janasanghati Samity (PCJSS), the political front of CHT indigenous communities, organised it to mark the 16th anniversary of the treaty, which was signed between the then Awami League government and the PCJSS on December 2,1997.
The government has breached the trust of the adivasis, said PCJSS Organising Secretary Shaktipada Tripura. "We know how to carry on our struggle and make the army chief say he is tired of war," he said.
Successive governments, particularly that of the AL, resorted to tricks and avoided implementing the most fundamental conditions despite being in power for nine years since the signing, said Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum.
SEE PAGE 4 COL 4
FROM PAGE 5
Two of their most fundamental demands-right to land and self-rule-were incorporated in the treaty, said Sanjeeb, but the government has reneged on those pledges time and again. "The aspiration for which the rebellious people of the hills put down their arms has been ignored."
The claim by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to have met 48 conditions of the accord in her parliamentary speech is a mere trick, as those did not bring any significant difference in the lives of the indigenous people who felt deceived, said
Sanjeeb.
Instead, a law on the Land Dispute Resolution Commission was enacted in 2001 in direct contravention of the treaty, said Shamsul Huda, executive director, Association for Land Reform and Development.
Rana Dasgupta, general secretary, Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad; Numan Ahmed Khan, executive director, Institute for Environment and Development; columnist Syed Abul Moksud, and Information Commissioner Prof Sadeka Halim also spoke.