The Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord Implementation Movement, in a statement on Friday, expressed concern over the postponement of a meeting of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission.
On October 16, joint district and sessions judge Mohammad Sahab Uddin, also secretary of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission, in a notification postponed the meeting.
The notification cited unavoidable circumstances as reasons for the postponement of the meeting scheduled to be held in Rangamati on October 19.
The CHT Accord Implementation Movement alleged that the meeting was postponed after the Parbatya Chattogram Chhatra Parishad, a student organisation representing settler Bengalis in the CHT, threatened to call a hartal.
The platform鈥檚 two joint conveners, human rights activist Zakir Hossain and professor Khairul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University鈥檚 social sciences department, said that in response to demands from various groups, the government formed a committee for the implementation and monitoring of the CHT accord on January 12, with foreign affairs adviser Touhid Hossain as its convener.
Later, on July 19, the committee held a meeting in Rangamati, where it was announced that effective measures would be taken to implement the 1997 CHT Peace Accord 鈥� a development that gave hope, the statement added.
The platform鈥檚 leaders further said that one of the most crucial steps towards effective implementation of the CHT accord was to make the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission functional in order to resolve long-standing land disputes in the three hill districts 鈥� Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban.
According to a media report, more than 22,000 land-related petitions from the three hill districts were pending with the CHT land commission for disposal.
However, soon after the announcement of a meeting of this commission, 鈥榳e noticed that a certain group became active in efforts to foil the meeting and undermine the implementation process of the accord,鈥� the CHT Accord Implementation Movement鈥檚 statement said.
The statement called on the government to mobilise all state mechanisms and take prompt and effective measures to implement the accord, in order to ensure a political and peaceful resolution to the CHT issue, and demanded that the meeting be held soon.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Khagrachari reported that the Parbatya Chattogram Chhatra Parishad at a press briefing on October 16 threatened to take positions on all streets of Rangamati on October 19 if the land commission meeting was held without addressing the organisation鈥檚 eight-point demands.
The organisation鈥檚 demands included, among others, equal representation of all ethnic groups in the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission proportional to their population, a comprehensive land survey before starting dispute resolution, and abolition of provisions in the 2016 Land Commission Amendment Act that conflict with the Constitution.
