11 years on, CHT treaty remains unimplemented

New Age, Dhaka
Dec 3, 2008

Nazrul Islam

Neither of the five successive governments, two political and three interim administrations, in over a decade, was sincere about rehabilitation of the former combatants of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti who had returned to normal life after surrendering arms in 1998, ethnic minority leaders say.
They said that the government did not allocate a single penny for any of the 1,429 small projects proposed by the former combatants for their self-employment, reflecting a lack of sincerity of the authorities towards implementation of the landmark CHT treaty, signed on December 2, 1997.
The signing of the accord between the government and the PCJSS, the political forum of 12 ethnic minority groups living in the south-eastern hill districts, ended two decades of armed conflicts in the CHT.
As per the treaty, the Shanti Bahini, armed guerilla wing of the JSS, was dissolved and its combatants returned to normal life when the government pledged implementation of the clauses of the treaty to improve the life of the hill people.
But most of the pledges remain unfulfilled 11 years after the signing of the treaty.
About the self-employment projects, Mangal Kumar Chakma, a leader of the JSS said that the proposals were gathering dust at the finance ministry.
The government neither rejects nor approves them though the Chittagong Regional Council leaders have repeatedly requested the authorities to approve the proposals, he said.
A total of 1,947 combatants retuned to normal life after formally surrendering arms at a function in Khagrachari Stadium in early 1998. Seventy-eight combatants were given job in the police forces, but 66 of them quit the force without giving any reasons, according to available statistics.
The former guerrilla combatants approached the government through the CHT affairs ministry to undertake initiatives for their rehabilitation in line with the provisions of the treaty. But all their efforts went in vain.
Mangal Kumar said that even small loans amounting to Tk 22,000 that four of the combatants had taken from banks, were not waived till now despite pledges to do so.
At least 15 main provisions of the treaty were not addressed by the past governments – the Awami League between 1996 and 2001, the Latifur Rahman-led caretaker government in 2001, the BNP-led alliance government between 2001 and 2006, Iajuddin Ahmed-led caretaker government in 2006-07, and the present military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
When asked to what extent the 1997 peace treaty had been implemented, the CHT regional council chairman, Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, better known as Santu Larma, who led the two decades of armed struggle for CHT self-rule, said nothing significant had been done and accused all successive governments of failure.
‘We are ready to cooperate with the authorities if they are sincere about implementing the treaty’, said the former guerrilla leader Tuesday – the 11th anniversary of the treaty.
The JSS leaders said that although the treaty stipulated lifting of all cases filed against ethnic minority people during the bush war, the authorities had till date failed to publish a gazette to this effect. There are still a total of 114 cases pending with courts.
Till now the CHT has no recognition as being a predominantly ethnic minority region and no measures have been taken to preserve their cultures and heritage in line with the deal. Rather settlers from the plains have continued streaming into the region, the JSS said in a report on the state of implementation of the treaty.
Little progress has been made in the past few years in dismantling temporary military, camps, empowerment of the regional council, elections to the three hill district councils, settlement of land disputes by setting up a functional commission and rehabilitation of the repatriated refugees and internally displaced people.
‘The internally displaced people, who fled their homes because of two decades of armed conflicts, have not been rehabilitated’, said the report.
Rather, in violation of the treaty, the government named some 38,122 Bengali settlers in the refugee list, making the situation more complex, it added.