Major provisions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord have already been implemented, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“We have already implemented 48 out of 72 clauses of the landmark treaty while 15 have partially been fulfilled. The process is on to implement rest of the clauses,” the premier told the Parliament on Wednesday.
She said: “Of 232 military camps, 119 have already been withdrawn from the region and the rest will be pulled out in phases.
“We are also planning to withdraw the army deployment from the area once the infrastructure development works are completed.”
Replying to a query, the PM said: “Our government has introduced different development programmes in the CHT region in order to ensure permanent peace and sustainable development of the small ethnic groups living in the areas.”
The PM also held the then BNP-led government responsible for slowing down the implementation process of the agreement.
She said: “A development project undertaken by my government in 1996 term was shelved by the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government during its 2001-2006 rule.”
She further said: “My government treated it as a political issue and we tried to settle it in a political manner. We [Awami League and PCJSS] sat together and resolved the matter through discussion.
“We did not involve the law enforcing agencies or any foreign force in this regard.”
The then Awami League government and Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) signed the deal on December 2, 1997.
A total of 1,947 PCJSS members surrendered and handed over their arms and ammunition to the government in four phases as per the treaty.
