MD ABBAS

Successive governments have failed to implement the most important sections of the Chattogram Hill Tracts peace accord, leaving the treaty largely unfulfilled even after nearly three decades.

Rights activists say that due to non-implementation, coexistence between the CHT people and Bangalee settlers is becoming increasingly difficult. They also allege that the violence in the CHT, including recent incidents, is a result of this.

On December 2, 1997, the then Awami League government signed the accord with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) to bring peace to the hill region. This ended more than two decades of armed struggle by the PCJSS for autonomy of CHT.

Twenty-eight years later, the accord remains only partly implemented. The governments led by the AL, BNP, and the 2007-08 caretaker administration have been accused of lacking the political will to fulfill the key promises: establishing local councils, resolving land disputes, and demilitarising the region.

Officially, the government claims that 65 out of the 72 sections of the accord have been implemented, with only a few remaining. PCJSS leaders reject this narrative, saying that only 25 sections have been executed, 18 partially, and 29 not at all.

When the treaty was signed, the AL government was in power but failed to implement its key sections. The BNP government, which assumed office in 2001, did not act on the accord, arguing that it had been signed by the previous administration.

The Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government, from 2007 to 2008, also did not take meaningful steps to advance the process.

The AL returned to power in 2009 and, in its election manifestos in 2009, 2014, 2018, and 2024, pledged to fully implement the accord.

Rights groups and PCJSS leaders argue that the party could have done so if it had shown genuine goodwill and not betrayed the hill people.

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