DHAKA: Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council’s Chairman Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma alias Santu Larma Tuesday feared that if Chittagong Hill Tracts peace treaty is not implemented shortly, there would be more bloodshed.
“The future of the indigenous people is dark because they are forced toward extinction,” he added.
He came up with the statement while addressing a programme organized to mark the International Day of the World`s Indigenous People.
The leader from the hilly region said, “Today, we can’t articulate the word ‘indigenous’ freely and it’s strange to see the way government anxious and upset about the word.”
“The tribal people have to fight for their survival”, he asserted.
Mentioning the government’s reluctance about the treaty, he said, “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has signed the treaty in 1997 but her government is not implementing it, which means top-level doesn’t want it”.
He claimed, “Sometimes, military forces and intelligence agencies misinterpret the matter to government”.
Bureaucracy is one of the major hindrances for the implementation of the treaty, he also claimed.
“According to our constitution, we are termed as ethnic minorities which is a colonial concept”, he added.
Among others, Workers Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon MP, JSD president Hasanul Haq Inu MP, parliamentary standing committee chairman on land affairs ministry spoke in the discussion presided over by Advocate Sultana Kamal.
BDST: 2050 HRS, AUG 07, 2012
Edited by: Tilka Binte Mehtab, Newsroom Editor/Kaiser Ahmed, Newsroom Editor/
Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Sr Newsroom Editor/ SM Salahuddin, Output Editor
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