THE reluctance of successive governments at fully implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts peace accord has remained a distressing issue for ethnic minorities living in the hill districts. It has been almost 27 years since the peace treaty Accord was signed. A large number of ethnic minority people once again demanded the full implementation of the accord, signed in 1997, on September 18 in a 鈥楳arch for Identity鈥� programme in Khagrachari. They also demanded, among others, constitutional recognition of their identity and their democratic rights. Their demands also included a roadmap to ensure a democratic environment in the districts, addressing land-related issues, holding district council elections with an electoral roll of local people according to the accord and ensuring primary education in mother tongues of the students. All these are genuine issues of ethnic minority people and most of the grievances could have been avoided with the full implementation of the accord. The delay in doing so has given rise to justified discontent among the people living in the hill districts who are reported to be taking preparations to wage a greater movement for their rights.
About 72 clauses of the accord, including two important ones 鈥� an effective Chattogram Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission and the withdrawal of all temporary security forces camps 鈥� that are foundational to the agreement are yet to be fully implemented. The overthrown Awami League government, which signed the accord, used to claim unconvincingly that the majority of the clauses had already been implemented. The government set up the Land Dispute Resolution Commission in 2001, keeping to the accord, but the commission has remained largely inactive in the absence of a procedural guideline. In 2016, the government amended the Chattogram Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 to recognise customary rights of the jumma communities and said that land disputes in the hills would be resolved in accordance with the law, custom and practice in force in the districts. But the commission is yet to resolve any of more than 22,000 applications it is reported to have so far received from ethnic minorities. The accord also promised to introduce a special administrative system composed of the regional council and hill district councils and bring general administration, law and order and land management under its governance, but this provision has also not been fully implemented. Another source of discontent has been tourism and development activities that have rendered many homeless.
The interim government, which has taken the initiative for various reforms, should also address the grievances of ethnic minorities. The authorities should immediately end procrastination about the full implementation of the accord and take early steps to implement an effective land dispute resolution commission, which has been at the heart of discontent. The government should ensure full adherence to the CHT Regional Council Act and the Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act.
