AL, PCJSS at opposite poles after 24 years

Six cases, including of murder, extortion and abduction, have been filed against the central committee assistant organising secretary of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS), SK Mong, over the past five years. Probe reports have been finalised in two of these cases and means SK Mong, who is a member of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council (CHTRC), has been indicted in neither of the two cases.

The CHTRC was formed through the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord signed 24 years ago. JSS president and the signatory of the peace accord Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, alias Santu Larma, is the chairman of the CHTRC with the rank of a state minister.

SK Mong is one of 21 members of the CHTRC. This leader has been busy with over the past several years dealing with cases, imprisonment and bail on the other hand, and talks with the government as a member of the CHTRC, on the other.

A central leader of JSS claimed cases have been filed against at least 1,000 leaders and activists of their party. Ruling party files these cases using the administration to harass them. At least 3,500 leaders and activists are still hiding due to such harassment and cases. The leader who provided this information is also hiding.

Under such circumstances, Thursday, 2 December marks the 24th anniversary of Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord which was signed on this day in 1997. Ruling party Awami League was in power then. JSS and the Awami League government signed the treaty with a trust that, according to several leaders of both parties, has cracked.

Santu Larma told Prothom Alo on Wednesday today’s Awami League has suppressed JSS in the Hill Tracts like they have suppressed the major opposition in the plain land.

The ‘hostile attitude’ of the ruling party is not only limited to the central leaders like KS Mong. It also spreads across the villages in the hills. JSS leader Sushant Tanchangya was a chairman of Gilachar union parisad in Rangamait’s Rajasthali upazila. Union parishad member Uday Tanchangya said Sushant Tanchangya was forced to renounce his post in 2018 two years after becoming the chairman. He is not seen in the area now. A family member said Sushant Tanchangya has become a monk and quit politics.

JSS-supported candidates became the chairman in three unions of Rajasthali upazila in the last two terms. This time, Awami League bagged all.

There are 35 members in the central committee of JSS and 25 of them left the area. The party’s head office is in Kallyanpur of Rangamati and the district committee’s office in Uttar Kalindipur. These offices are hardly ever open.

Awami League won all three constituencies of the Hill Tracts in 1991 and 1996. Many people observed JSS had an indirect support to Awami League’s triumph. After coming to power in 1996, Awami League signed the treaty. However, conflict arose over implementing it.

BNP won Rangamati and Khagrachhari constituencies in the 2001 parliamentary election. Awami League thinks the JSS supported BNP in that election. Again, Awami League won big in 2008. JSS-supported candidate Ushatan Talukder won in Rangamati constituency in 2014. JSS participated in that controversial election with a condition that it gets at least one parliamentary seat. The Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 was amended in 2016. Since then, JSS started distancing itself from ruling Awami League.

The settlers expressed anger over the amended act. Because the land commission’s main function is to settle the ownership of “the illegal settlement and the grabbed lands” in accordance with the peace treaty. And if it does so, settler Bangalees may lose their lands or leave the hills.

As per the traditions of hill areas, it requires an approval of the headman, who works under the head of the circle, known as Raja, to get a settlement on a piece of land. But the Banglaees, living in the hills, received the land on which they were rehabilitated by the government in the 1980s.

Convener of Parbatya Chattagram Nagarik Committee Goutam Dewan told Prothom Alo that JSS was the largest force to press demands of the hill people. And the party faces repercussions so that it cannot become active over land rights, he added.

According to local leaders, Awami League had confidence in the votes of the hill people but they no longer have this. The results of the last two elections showed JSS and another party United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) shared 85 per cent votes of hill people in Rangamati and Khagrachhari constituencies. The votes of Bangalees has turned into a factor and so Awami League does not want anger the rehabilitated Bangalees.

More cases were filed against the leaders of JSS after 2016. Two extremist groups - UPDF (democratic) and Mog Bahini – emerged after that. Several activists of JSS were also killed by Mog Bahini and a top leader of Awami League’s Bandarban unit is said to be behind its creation.

Once JSS was the only party in the hills, now there are four parties. The ruling party also is taking advantage of this to weaken the JSS, Goutam Dewan observed.

Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs minister and lawmaker of Bandarban constituency Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing denied all these allegations. On cases against JSS men and hiding of its leaders, Bir Bahadur said, “Victims of incidents carried out by JSS filed these cases. Does any leader or activist file a case? And the leaders of JSS should answer why they go into hiding.”

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord contains 82 sections. The government claimed it implemented 48 sections fully and 25 sections partially with implementation of 9 sections in progress. But JSS claimed only 25 sections have been implemented fully and 18 partially and 29 sections have not been implemented at all.

Minister Bir Bahadur also admitted the land commission formed to settle main problem of the hills, land dispute, is not functioning.

There is a ‘treaty implementation monitoring committee.’ The last meeting of the committee was held on 20 October 2019. The head of the committee lawmaker Abul Hasanat Abdullah said, “I would not say anything now over the state of the treaty. There has been some achievement, but I don’t have the details.”

Lawamker Rashed Khan Menon was involved in the peace talks at the Hill Tracts from the very beginning. He said, “The feud between JSS and Awami League is destroying the main spirit of the treaty. Both parties will have to compromise for the implementation of the treaty.”

This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna