THE call to political parties competing in the national elections scheduled for February 12 to commit to the full implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Treaty and include this promise in election manifestos is timely. Rights activists, professionals and journalists made the appeal at a press conference organised by the Parbatya Chattogram Shanti Chukti Bastabayan Andolan in Dhaka on January 27. They noted that although the peace accord was signed on December 2, 1997, many sections remain unimplemented, leaving grievances of ethnic minorities and tension in the hill districts unaddressed. It has been more than 28 years since the accord was signed, yet successive governments have shown reluctance to see it through. The full implementation could ensure a democratic environment in the three hill districts and address critical land-related issues, among others. These are genuine concerns of the ethnic minority population and most grievances could have been avoided if the treaty had been honoured. The continued delay has given rise to justified discontent among ethnic minorities living in the hill districts.
About 72 clauses of the accord, including two important ones — an effective Chattogram Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission and the withdrawal of all temporary security forces camps — that are foundational to the agreement are yet to be fully implemented. The fallen 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 2016, the government amended the Chattogram Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 to recognise customary rights of the hill communities and said that land disputes 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 received from ethnic minorities. The accord also promised a special administrative system composed of regional and hill district councils to oversee general administration, law and order and land management. This provision, too, remains unfulfilled. Furthermore, tourism and development activities have become a source of further discontent, having rendered many residents homeless.
Political parties should, therefore, make it clear in their election manifestos that they, if elected, will commit to the full implementation of the treaty. The next government must not procrastinate. It must take early steps to empower an effective land dispute resolution commission, the heart of discontent, and ensure the full adherence to the CHT Regional Council Act and the Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act.
