FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF CHT PEACE ACCORD – CHALLENGES AND IMPEDIMENTS IN THE PROCESS

Abstract

Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is the most diversified region of Bangladesh in
terms of terrain configuration, people and their culture. The area is inhabited
by 12 ethnic groups including the mainstream Bengali who makes up nearly 48
percent of the total population of CHT. The region was battered with insurgency
problem for 27 years, which came to an end through the signing of historic
CHT Peace Accord on 02 December, 1997. With the initiative of both sides, the
implementation of the Peace Accord began immediately, although some of the
clauses contravene the constitution of the country. It was expected, that Peace
and stability would prevail in the region in a post insurgency situation. Despite
the initiative of the government in restoring the peace and harmony in the region
through implementing the Peace Accord, a low intensity of conflict situation
is still prevailing with the deployment of highest number of security personnel
than any other part of Bangladesh. In this backdrop, the research was undertaken
to identify the probable challenges and impediments in the process of full
implementation of CHT Peace Accord and therefore, suggest a comprehensive
modality to resolve this crisis. To identify the causes, an in-depth study of the
genesis of the crisis was carried out alone with field survey and interviews
with relevant personals. During the study, issues like land dispute, communal
disharmony, mistrust between the GOB and ethnic minority leaderships, Anti-
Peace Accord stand of some of the regional political parties, plight of the
Bengali community, presence of armed miscreants and rampant toll collection
by regional political parties came out as the major challenges and impediments in
the way of full implementation of Peace Accord. If these issues can be addressed
properly, the stalemate situation in the way of implementation can be resolved
positively. Both the stakeholders need to realize the ground reality in the present
context and make necessary compromise to implement the accord. The delay in
implementation complicate the problem which would certainly raise the security
concern and likely to unstable the overall security environment in the CHT region
once again.