The Prime Minister herself wants the accord signed in 1997 to be fully implemented as soon as possible, he said.
Dr Gowher Rizvi was addressing a roundtable on ‘Chittagong Hill Tracts Treaty: Context and implementation’ at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry organised the meeting chaired by its Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing.
He said although there is much that remains to be done for full implementation of the treaty, some things have moved forward quickly and will advance further, and no-one should doubt this. “Our Prime Minister wants full implementation of the treaty as soon as possible,” he said.
The PM’s adviser said the land dispute problem is the crux of the issue. “There is no hesitation to resolve the land dispute problems. The law has already been amended so that the problems can be resolved quickly.”
Dr Rizvi urged all parties to fully cooperate to complete the task as early as possible. "The faster it can be done, the better it will be for all of us and for the country,” he added.
Kujendra Lal Tripura, MP, said the CHT Cccord’s full implementation will face no barrier if the land dispute problem is solved.
“There is a sense among both the Bengalis and tribal people that implementation of the amended law to resolve land dispute will affect their own community adversely,” he said.
Kujendra Lal, who is also the chairman of the Taskforce on Rehabilitation of Returnee Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, asserted the Chittagong Hill Tracts is an integral part of Bangladesh.
“As chairman of the Taskforce, I have the responsibility to rehabilitate tribal refugees. But there are many non-tribals also who are displaced. They need to be rehabilitated also,” he added.
Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Secretary Md Mesbahul Islam gave a PowerPoint presentation on the ‘Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord: Context and implementation’.
In his presentation, he said out of 72 articles of the CHT Peace Accord, 48 have been fully implemented, 15 have been partially implemented and the remaining 9 are ‘under implementation’.
Among others, Dipankar Talukder, MP, of Rangamati, Chairmen of different upazilas, headmen and people’s representatives and journalist leaders of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, as well as representatives of NGOs and high officials of the ministry were in attendance at the roundtable.