Chittagong Hill Tracts leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma popularly known as Santu Larma on Friday warned of another guerrilla war in the hills region if the CHT peace accord is not immediately implemented.(New Age)

‘The people of the hill tracts are waiting for the next parliamentary elections. The armed movement is inevitable if the future government did not show much interest in implementing the peace accord,’ Santu, chairman of the CHT Regional Council, said.

‘There is no alternative to that. I don’t see any alternative,’ the former guerrilla commander told a discussion at the National Press Club to mark the 9th anniversary of the CHT peace accord today.

The peace accord signed on December 2, 1997 ended 23 years of guerrilla war in the pristine hills region that had claimed nearly 20,000 lives.

Santu, also chairman of the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity, demanded withdrawal of, what he says, army rule in the CHT region in the name of Operation Uttaran .

‘My involvement in the movement for the rights of the indigenous people started since my student days 46 years ago,’ he told the discussion on ‘land crisis in the hills, internal refugee and implementation of the peace accord.’

‘But I did not take up arms willingly, rather I was forced to do so,’ he said while recalling MN Larma, who launched the armed movement in the CHT, what Santu said, to ensure the existence of the Jum nation.

Santu alleged that under the umbrella of Operation Uttaran, the army had grabbed land of indigenous people at Dighinala, Alikadam and Ruma to set up cantonments.

‘About 9,507 acres of land were occupied by the army simply to extend the Ruma cantonment,’ he added.

The army and the forest department are continuing to grab land of the hills people under government patronisation.

The former guerilla leader also accused the army of harassing innocent people in the name searching for arms. He was critical of the resettlement of Bengali refugees in the region since 1974.

Santu said as the chairman of the Regional Council he had been given enough power ‘but in reality an army man is far more powerful than I am,’ he added.

Questioning the neutrality of the army, he said the anti-peace accord group United People’s Democratic Front stay next to army, collect money forcefully from the people and have tea with the army personnel.

The army has made the lives of the hill people miserable and unlivable, he added.

Santu said only a progressive, democratic and non-communal government can resolve the problems by fully implementing the peace agreement.

Maj Gen (retd) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, who was the special guest at the discussion, came down hard on the forceful modernisation of the hill people.

He also stressed the need for respecting indigenous culture and rituals even though it is a little community.

Mujahidul Islam Selim, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party leader Haider Akbar Khan Rono and Adibashi Forum leader Sanjib Drong also took part in the discussion.