No respite from 'military rule'
'Military rule' is still imposed on Chittagong Hill Tracts in the form of "Operation Uttaran", alleged Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma yesterday.
Chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council (CHTRC) Jyotirindra, also known as Santu Larma, said 'military rule' has always dominated over everything in the area.
He was addressing a press conference on the eve of the 12th anniversary of the peace treaty at the conference room of CHTRC in Rangamati.
Santu Larma said the implementation process of the peace accord grinded to a halt during the four-party alliance as well as the caretaker government rule. The accord was violated during that seven years, he added.
Expressing optimism for complete implementation of the treaty, Santu Larma said, "I hope the present Awami League-led grand alliance government would implement it within its tenure."
Lauding steps taken by the current government to implement the accord, Santu Larma said the government reconstituted the peace implementation committee, the land commission and CHT refugee affairs taskforce.
He, however, said the government had violated the deal by appointing a state minister for the CHT affairs ministry instead of a fully-fledged minister as per the provision of the accord.
He said there are still about 500 security camps in CHT and only 31 camps including a brigade have been withdrawn. "I do not know why and how the government is claiming that around 200 camps were removed from CHT," he said.
He said the government is yet to make the CHT Regional Council active and approve the rules of business for the council.
Election to the council could not be held till date as the elections to the three hill districts councils were not held as per the agreement, Santu Larma said.
He said the government should immediately finalise the rules of business for CHTRC, implement the rules of business for staffs of CHTRC, construct the CHTRC Complex, allocate fund for building an office of CHTRC in Dhaka, approve the rules of business for three districts councils, hand over maintenance of law and order, local police, land, land management, environment management, youth development programmes and tourism to districts councils, prepare separate voter lists for CHT districts and enact voter list rules, withdraw all remaining makeshift security camps and rehabilitate refugees and internally displaced people.
Santu Larma said the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) is a terrorist organisation and urged the government to ban it. He claimed that a vested quarter is backing the UPDF to "bury" Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS). He said armed members of UPDF killed about 100 leaders and activists of PCJSS.
Top leaders of PCJSS Goutam Kumar Chakma, Ushatan Talukder, Rowshan Ara Begum, Sneha Kanti Chakma and acting Chief Executive Officer of CHTRC Krishna Chandra Chakma were present at the conference.
The PCJSS has taken up different programmes, including holding of rallies and discussion meetings in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari to observe the 12th anniversary of the accord.
On December 2, 1997 the CHT Peace Accord was signed between the PCJSS and the then Awami League government.
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