http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/dec/28/28122003mt.htm#A5
STAFF REPORTER
A group of Bengali people living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) under the banner of Parbatya Chattagram Gana Parishad (PCG) have demanded the cancellation of the CHT Peace Accord signed by the previous Awami League (AL) government on 02 December 1997.
They have also demanded dissolution the CHT regional council and district councils in the three hill districts: Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban.
The demands were made yesterday by the PCG when they called on the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of CHT Affairs, Mosharaf Hossain, at his office at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The demands of the PCG is made at a time when the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), led by Santu Larma, has been demanding the implementation of the peace accord signed between the Government and the PCJSS. Santu Larma, a former armed commander of the Santibahini, signed the accord with the government on behalf of the tribal people who were fighting "to establish their rights".
United People Democratic Front (UPDF), a rival faction of the PCJSS, has also been demanding the cancellation of the peace accord.
"I have listened to the demands of the PCG and will have talks with the government on this issue," Mosharaf Hossain told reporters after the meeting. He said that the government should tackle the issue so that a peaceful co-existence between the tribal people and the Bengalee settlers could be ensured in the CHT region.
"There are many discriminatory clauses in the peace accord," Moniruzzaman Monir, the PCG convenor, told journalists adding that the dual voting system in the CHT accord must be cancelled. He said that the voting system had restricted the Bengalees to be elected the chairman of the regional council and councils of the three districts.
Local Government, Rural Development (LGRD) and Cooperatives Minister and BNP Secretary-General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that the peace accord would be implemented in phases.