Rangamati: The Chattogram Hill Tracts Citizens' Council has demanded that the Chattogram Hill Tracts Accord be re-evaluated by amending the clauses that conflict with the Constitution of Bangladesh and discriminatory clauses, eliminating discrimination among the Bengalis, a small ethnic group in the hills, and bringing equality.
On Monday (December 2) afternoon, the leaders of the organization's Rangamati District Committee raised this demand through a press conference at a restaurant in the town. Shabbir Ahmed, Rangamati District President of the Chattogram Hill Tracts Citizens' Council, read a written statement at the press conference organized to mark the 27th anniversary of the Hill Tracts Accord.
At that time, Rangamati District Committee General Secretary Mohammad Solaiman, Organizing Secretary Maulana Abu Bakar Siddique, Rangamati Municipal Committee President Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim and Advocate Nur Hossain, Central General Secretary of the Chattogram Hill Tracts Youth Council, along with leaders from various levels, were present at the press conference.
In a written statement, the leaders of the Citizens' Council said that for more than two decades, the then Shanti Bahini had been playing the game of blood festival in the Chattogram Hill Tracts. These undesirable incidents came to an end when the historic Hill Tracts Accord was signed between the government and the Jana Sanghati Samiti (JSS) on December 2, 1997. Monday (December 2) marks the 27th anniversary of the Hill Tracts Accord. 27 years have passed since the agreement was concluded.
One after another, various conditions of the agreement are being implemented across the hills. The government claims that most of the clauses of the agreement have already been implemented. Some of the remaining clauses are under implementation. After the agreement, several armed organizations in the hilly region, including JSS (Santu), JSS (MN Larma), UPDF (Prasit) and UPDF (Ganatantrik), have been carrying out terrorist activities including extortion in the hilly region.
During the signing of the agreement, the Bengali community was denied its ethnicity and was made second-class citizens by calling them 'non-tribal'. Not only that, in Section 1 of Part A of the agreement, 'both parties have recognized the Chattogram Hill Tracts region as a tribal-dominated region', thus denying the existence of almost half of the population of the Chattogram Hill Tracts, Bengalis. Bengalis have been discriminated against by giving various preferential conditions to the hilly tribes in education, employment and economic activities, social and state facilities.
The Bengalis living there are counting the days in fear of being landless and displaced due to the inclusion of provisions for following traditional practices in land management. A writ petition has already been filed in the High Court challenging various clauses of the agreement. In the verdict of this writ, the High Court has declared many clauses of the agreement unconstitutional. Although a stay order has been issued against this verdict of the High Court. The case is pending in the Appellate Division.
Experts have commented that the latest amendment to the Land Commission Act formed under the agreement is against state integrity, authority and jurisdiction. This proves that some parts of the peace agreement are in conflict with the sacred constitution of Bangladesh and the existing laws. Due to human limitations, no provision made by man is correct or final at once. It is re-evaluated, amended and changed according to time and need.
The constitutions of different countries of the world have been amended and changed according to the demands of time and need. The constitution of Bangladesh has also been amended 16 times. No agreement or law can be above the constitution. Therefore, from today's press conference, we demand that the Chief Adviser of the current interim government amend the provisions of the Chattogram Hill Tracts Accord that are contradictory to the Constitution of Bangladesh and discriminatory, and re-evaluate the agreement by eliminating the discrimination among the small ethnic Bengalis of the hills and bringing equality. And the leaders of the Citizens' Council have demanded the removal of the Chairman of the Regional Council, Santu Larmar, who has failed to establish peace in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, the recovery of illegal weapons from the hills, and the restoration of the withdrawn security force camps to establish permanent peace.