We want no more conflict in CHT: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday emphasised maintaining peace in the hills and urged all to extend cooperation to the Land Commission to solve the land dispute in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT).

 “We want no more unrest and conflict in CHT… we want people of the region to stay well, we want peace to be maintained there,” she said while inaugurating “Sheikh Hasina Chattogram Hill Tracts Complex” on Bailey Road in Dhaka in the afternoon.

Hasina said the country including the CHT region will achieve prosperity through peace.

The premier said her government has done everything necessary for implementing the CHT Peace Accord and formed the Land Commission to solve land dispute in the region.

But, she said, there is a problem in giving compensation to the hill people during land acquisition. “They don't get compensation as per rule followed to provide compensation for people of other parts of the country,” she said, adding that the reason is that a problem regarding ownership exists there.

In this connection, the premier preferred to follow the country's own law instead of the British law. “If the hill people get land ownership in their own name according to the law of our country, problems such as the hill people's deprivation of compensation will be over,” she said.

 “We want everybody to live with ownership of their land and development will be made in this way,” she said.

Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Convener of the CHT Peace Accord Implementation Committee Abul Hasanat Abdullah and Chairman of CHT Regional Council Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Santu Larma, were present on the occasion.

State Minister for CHT Affairs Ministry Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing presided over the programme, while secretary of the ministry Nurul Amin delivered welcome speech.

A documentary on long-lasting peace and development initiatives of Bangabandhu and Sheikh Hasina in the CHT was screened on the occasion.