The Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord Implementation Movement has called for the withdrawal of the State Minister for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs and the redistribution of the portfolio.
The citizens' alliance formed demanding the implementation of the Hill Tracts Accord made this call in a statement issued on Monday.
The joint coordinator of the alliance, human rights activist Zakir Hossain and Professor Khairul Islam Chowdhury, sent a joint statement to the media on Monday. They made this call to the BNP-led government that won the 13th National Parliament election.
The statement congratulated the new government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman, who won the 13th National Parliament election with a huge popular vote. The statement makers hope that the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Agreement and the rights of all marginalized ethnic groups, including ethnic and religious minorities, will be given priority in this new journey of Bangladesh on a democratic path under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
The statement said that the Chittagong Hill Tracts TrAccord eaty Implementation Movement is observing that in the newly formed cabinet, a hill person has been given the responsibility of a full minister in the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs and another non-hilly person has been appointed as a state minister. Giving a non-hilly person the responsibility of a state minister in the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs is not in line with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord signed on December 2, 1997. After the BNP government came to power through the democratic transition through the anti-dictatorship struggle in 1990, it started a formal dialogue with the Jana Sanghati Samiti with the aim of a political solution to the Chittagong Hill Tracts problem. In continuation of that, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord was signed on December 2, 1997.
The statement also reads that BNP, after coming to power again in 2001, played a responsible role in advancing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord implementation process. In the 13th National Parliament election, the hill voters elected BNP-nominated candidates in three constituencies of the hill district with a huge vote. This shows that the people of the hills have trust and faith in BNP.
The statement said that BNP has promised to build a multi-ethnic 'Rainbow Nation' through its 31-point program. The democracy-loving people of the country have welcomed BNP's 'Rainbow Nation'. In order to strengthen the foundation of the multi-ethnic Rainbow Nation declared by BNP, the newly formed government should withdraw the non-Hilly State Minister from the Chittagong Hill Tracts Ministry, who is inconsistent with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord, and redistribute the portfolio.
The statement further said that just as the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia played a statesmanlike role by advancing the implementation process of the Accord in 2001, the countrymen expect that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman of the new government will also play a prudent role in keeping the implementation process of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord active, following in her footsteps.
