Speakers at a roundtable conference yesterday describing the instability in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) as a political problem said violent incidents like rape, murder and communal attacks in the CHT are on the rise, since perpetrators go unpunished.
“Incidents of human rights violation occur frequently in the CHT because the trial and exemplary punishment of perpetrators don’t take place,” said the co-chair of the International Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Commission, Sultana Kamal, reported UNB.
The commission, in collaboration with the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), organised the roundtable discussion, titled ‘Present condition of Human Rights Situation in CHT and Implementation of the CHT Peace Accord- a Review’ at the capital’s Cirdap auditorium.
Commission members Zafar Iqbal, Khushi Kabir, Iftekharuzzaman, Yasmin Haque, Shapan Adnan and its adviser Meghna Guhathakurta spoke at the programme.
Terming instability in the CHT a political problem, Iftekharuzzaman, also the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), stressed the need for resolving the problem politically instead of imposing military rule.
About the implementation of the CHT Peace Accord, he said, quoting an international organisation, the treaty could not be implemented due to the presence of army men in the region.
Referring to the withdrawal of army camps, Iftekharuzzaman said only 70-80 army camps were withdrawn from the area despite the fact that the government claimed the number to be 240-250.
Expressing grave concerns about violence against indigenous women in the CHT, Sultana Kamal, also executive director of rights body Ain O Salish Kendra, said about 20 incidents of attempted rape and murder after rape were reported in the area last year.
Rights activist Khushi Kabir said women are more vulnerable to violence. She said: “Most of the crimes which were committed against indigenous women in recent years are sex-related.”
Accusing the government agencies of engaging in land encroachment in the CHT, Dr Shapan Adnan said the Bangladesh Forest Department appropriated a vast tract of land that belonged to indigenous people.