Hill Voice, 01 December 2024, Special Correspondent:

Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs

The historic Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord was signed on 2 December 1997 between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) with a view to resolving the CHT problem in political and peaceful means.

The Ministry of CHT Affairs has been established according to the provision of establishing a CHT Affairs Ministry by appointing a minister from among the tribals mentioned in Section No. 19 of Part ‘D’ of the CHT Accord.

On July 15, 1998, the notification of Rules of Business along with the list of responsibilities and powers of the Ministry was issued. It is due to not having been amended the ‘Allocation of Business’ of various concerned ministries, the said ministries are dealing with the CHT related affairs as before. Consequently, the Ministry of CHT Affairs could not become properly effective. Therefore, it is desirable that the existing Allocation of Business of the various concerned ministries are amended.

According to Rules of Business, responsibilities and powers of it have not been handed over to the Ministry of CHT Affairs properly. Besides, about 95% of the officials and staff of the CHT Affairs Ministry are not residents of CHT. They are not sensitive in most cases on overall issues of CHT including implementation of the CHT Accord.

Hence, the Accord implementation process including the making effective of CHT Regional Council Act and three Hill District Council Acts is being deterred in various ways. Besides, at present, meeting of the Advisory Committee is not convened. Indeed, the Advisory Committee may be ascribed to be a nomenclature only.

In fact, after the signing of the CHT Accord, two-thirds of the clauses including the core issues of the Accord have not been implemented even in the past 27 years.