The anti-peace treaty group United Peoples Democratic Front has demanded that the parliamentary committee recoginse the Chittagong Hill Tracts as an autonomous region in the constitution.
Two UFDP members—Ujjal Smriti Chkma and Shanti Dev Chakma—made the demand when they met Suranjit Sengupta, co-chair of the parliamentary special committee on constitution review on Saturday.
Sengupta, however, clarified to them that autonomy under Bangladesh constitution was not feasible, but protection of rights, culture and tradition of the indigenous people was possible.
He suggested that the UPDF sit with other factions of the indigenous people and come up with common demands.
Sengupta assured them that they would be invited to the committee meetings, if necessary.
The two UPDF representatives handed over a letter signed by Proshit Bikash Chakma, the president of the UPDF, which was created by the former guerrillas as a political front against the 1997 peace accord signed by Shantu Larma.
Shantu's brother M N Larma started armed struggle against Bangladesh government demanding autonomous rule in 1975.
"I have told them that autonomy under Bangladesh constitution was not possible," Sepgupta told bdnews24.com after the meeting.
"But there is a consensus among the people about protection and conservation of the rights, culture and tradition of the [indigenous]," he said.
The Awami League MP said that the UPDF could make their demands and the government would discuss them in light of the constitution.
"I have suggested them to sit among themselves and with the three MPs of the CHT to thresh out a set of common demands for our consideration," said Sengupta adding that earlier Chakma king, Devashish Roy, led a delegation for constitutional recognition of the rights of the hill people.
Two more bodies — Adivashi Odhikar Forum and Khagrachhari District Karbari Association — also saw Sengupta in his office and handed over a set of demands. The two bodies also proposed declaring the CHT as an autonomous or specially-ruled region, the letters read.
The representatives of the three bodies came together to see Sengupta.
"We have reiterated our previous demands of autonomy," Ujjal Smriti Chakma told bdnews24.com after the meeting.
"We are here as the parliamentary body has been reviewing the constitution. Now, there is an opportunity for us to get our constitutional recognition," Shanti Dev Chakma, the coordinator of the UPDF's Khagrachhari district, told bdnews24.com.
He said Sengupta listened to them and suggested that they come up with common demands, and see the prime minister if possible.
Shantu Larma's Parbatya Jana Sanghati Samity and the UPDF have been countering, sometimes violently, each other since the signing of the peace deal in 1997 during the tenure of the Awami League government.
Under the peace deal, the government withdrew many army camps from the CHT. The deal also promised recognising the land rights of the indigenous people to bring peace in the hill — a commitment yet to materialise.
Larma, who dropped his demand for autonomy, alleged several times that the government had not done enough to implement the peace deal.
But the UPDF has vehemently rejected the peace agreement and went on with its demand for autonomy.
The Chakma and other indigenous peoples took up arms against the government since 1975, after the assassination of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who refused them recognition in the 1972 constitution.
The hill people waged armed struggle mainly with a view to restricting Bengali settlers from living there and in order to secure their traditional land rights.
Source: thedailystar.net
