Political parties urged to play active role in implementing CHT agreement
Almost 25 years after the signing of the Hill Agreement, the fundamentals of the agreement have not yet been implemented and the task of preserving and developing the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a region inhabited by tribals remains incomplete.
The Chittagong Hill Tract Agreement Implementation Movement' has called on the country's political parties to play an active role in the implementation of the agreement Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty.
Leaders of the movement made the call on Sunday in an open letter signed by two joint coordinators of the movement– human rights activist Zakir Hossain and Professor Khairul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University's Department of Social Sciences.
After the establishment of the new independent Bangladesh, which was created with the contribution of all the ethnic groups of the country, during the drafting of the constitution in 1972, the identity of the indigenous tribes of the country, including the hilly Jumma people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, was denied and these rich indigenous tribes were kept out of their rights and state formation process, stated the open letter.
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In such a reality, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Agreement was signed with the then government in 1997 at the end of more than two centuries of armed conflict, said the open letter, adding that the people of the country hoped that the state made a historical mistake by denying these indigenous peoples within the constitutional framework.
Almost 25 years after the signing of the Hill Agreement, the fundamentals of the agreement have not yet been implemented and the task of preserving and developing the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a region inhabited by tribals remains incomplete.
"We hope that the political leaders of the country will take necessary steps from their respective parties and positions to put pressure on the government and the concerned parties for the full and proper implementation of the 'Chittagong Hill Tracts' which was signed in 1997 as a way to solve the Chittagong Hill Tracts problem in a peaceful and political way," the letter said.
The open letter calls upon all political parties in the country to take a more active role in the implementation of the following seven points raised by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Implementation Movement.
The demands are- speedy and proper implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tract Agreement by formulating a schedule-based action plan; to properly empower the Regional Councils and the three Hill District Councils in accordance with the Hill Accords to ensure representative democratisation and local governance; ensuring land rights of internally displaced persons and returning Jumma refugees from India by implementing the Hill Land Dispute Settlement Commission for a permanent solution to the hill land problem; etc.
