Indian Chakma organizations urge PM Modi and PM Hasina to declare the Chittagong Hill Tracts a region of peace

In a joint memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, who is on a four-day visit to India from today, Indian Chakma organizations consisting of Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI), Chakma National Council of India–Mizoram Chapter (CNCI-Mizoram), Tripura Rejyo Chakma Gabujyya Jodha and Chakma Hajong Rights Alliance (CHRA), urged them to take joint measures for full implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) Accord of Bangladesh signed on 2 December 1997 and declare the CHTs as a “region of peace”.

Rashik Mohan Chakma, President of CNCI-Mizoram and former MLA of Mizoram, stated that “though the CHTs Accord was signed on 2 December 1997, key provisions of the Accord especially the handing over of law and order and supervision of the three Hill District Councils of Bandarban, Khagrachari, and Rangamati to the CHTs Regional Council;  withdrawal of the Bangladesh Army camps established during the armed conflicts into the cantonments within the CHTs; resolution of the land disputes through the functioning of the CHTs Land Commission; and rehabilitation and resettlement of the returnee Jumma refugees from India and internally displaced persons within the CHTs, remain unimplemented 25 years after the signing of the Accord.”

“The importance of implementation of the CHTs Accord for regional peace and security, especially for Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar, cannot be stressed enough. In addition to civil unrest of indigenous peoples of CHTs, collectively known as Jummas due to non-implementation of the Accord, the CHTs are often used by various insurgent groups. Further, the armed conflicts in the Arakan province of Myanmar bordering the CHTs, the expulsion of over 1.5 million Rohingyas to Bangladesh by Myanmar, and the refusal of the military junta government of Myanmar to repatriate any of these Rohingya refugees make the CHTs the source of regional instability and conflicts. In fact, peace in the region can be assured only through the joint efforts of Bangladesh and India and meaningful participation of the indigenous Jumma people in these efforts by empowering them for self-governance through full implementation of the CHTs Accord”. – urged Mr. Suhas Chakma, Founder of the CDFI  

“It is not in the interests of Bangladesh, India, indigenous Jumma peoples to have active civil unrest in the CHTs region or allow the region to be used for various insurgency activities.” -stated Mr. Pritimoy Chakma, Convenor of the CHRA. 

Priya Ranjan Chakma, President of the Tripura Rejyo Chakma Gabujya Jodha also stated that “We have urged both the Prime Ministers to take measures for full and effective implementation of the CHTs Accord, declare an economic package to assist the Government of Bangladesh in effective implementation of the CHTs Accord, including for rehabilitation and resettlement of the returnee Jumma refugees from India and internally displaced persons within the CHTs in line with similar economic assistance provided by India to the internally displaced persons of Sri Lanka following the end of the armed conflicts with the ethnic Tamils; and initiate processes with the Jana Samhati Samiti, the signatory to the CHTs Accord; and initiate processes with the Jana Samhati Samiti, the signatory to the CHTs Accord, to end civil unrest in the CHTs as a region of peace.”