http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/dec/11/11122003mt.htm#A15
KAMRAN REZA CHOWDHURY
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs at its meeting yesterday expressed dissatisfaction as the police failed to rescue Rupam Mahajan, who was abducted on August 24.
Sources said that the committee asked the law enforcing agencies to rescue him immediately as the abduction led to a violent clash between the tribal people and the Bengalee settlers in Mahalchhari in Khagrachhari district on August 26.
The Jatiya Sangsad body also suggested the government to hold talks with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) to restore normalcy in the CHT besides starting lease of land and repatriation of both tribal and Bengalee refugees as per recommendations of the CHT Task Force formed after the signing of the peace treaty on December 02, 1997.
In addition, the 4th meeting of the Standing Committee asked the Secretary of Ministry of CHT Affairs to take action against the CHT Regional Council officials who have allegedly flouted the government order regarding the sale and purchase of land in the CHT region, the meeting sources further said.
A delegation of the parliamentary body would soon visit the three hill districts?Rangmati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban?to assess the situation there, the committee decided.
The decision was taken yesterday at the 4th meeting of the Ministry of CHT Affairs at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban with committee chairman Mosharaf Hossain in the chair.
The meeting was told that the situation in Mahalchhari was normal and 168 families, whose houses were torched in the violent clash between the tribal people and the Bengalee settlers, were given construction materials to rebuild those.
"The State Minister for Home Affairs has assured the committee that the Rupam Mahajan would be rescued soon," the committee chairman Mosharaf Hossain told reporters after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad. The committee chairman denied that the committee discussed about the recent comment of the JSS chief Santu Larma’s threat to take arms if the peace treaty was not fully implemented by December this year.
"The government will soon hold talks with the PCJSS regarding the problems in the CHT and hoped that the unrest in the region would improve," another member Moazzem Hossain Alal told journalists.
The committee chairman also said that the government would do everything possible to restore peace in the region protecting independence, sovereignty and integrity of the country.
Sources said, one committee member and a lawmaker belonging to Jatiya Party said that the government had instituted a number of powerful bodies in the CHT region as per the peace treaty, but the situation in the region was worsening day by day. He questioned, how the PCJSS wanted to establish peace in the region.
Another member, who requested not to be named, said that the meeting saw a debate over the alleged violation of the government order regarding the mutation of land in the districts.
"Though the hill district councils must accept the DCs’ certificates of local citizenship for mutation (selling and purchasing) of land, the CHT Regional Council is not accepting the same," said the member adding that about 1,000 mutation cases were rejected by the district councils as the common people were being harassed for taking certificates from the DCs. He alleged that the district councils were giving green signal to the mutation cases for anyone submitting certificate from the tribal King.
According to the CHT peace treaty, the district councils must accept the certificates of local citizenship signed by either the DCs or the King.
On repatriation of the tribal refugees and the internally-displaced Bengalee people, the committee recommended that the Task Force must work for the repatriation of the tribal and the Bengalee people.
Regarding lease of land in the hill districts, the Deputy Minister for CHT Affairs disclosed that some influential politicians and bureaucrats had taken lease of land through their influences during the previous Awami League rule.
The committee recommended that the lease of land should be started as soon as possible so that the frustration of the common people could be lessened.
Committee members Shahjahan Chowdhury, Mufti Maulana A Sattar Akan, Gazi Md Shahjahan, Mostofa Kamal Pasha and Wadud Bhuiyan attended the meeting.
The meeting was also attended by the chairman of the Land Commission Justice A M Mahmudur Rahman and the chairman of the Task Force on CHT Affairs Samiran Dewan.
State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar also attended the meeting on behalf of the Prime Minister who was the Minister in charge of the Ministry of CHT Affairs.