Withdrawal of Troops: Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord (CHT)

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Withdrawal of Troops: Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord (CHT)

Implementations

Withdrawal of Troops – 1998

Ending the occupation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) by national military forces was a core objective of the December 1997 Accord. News sources inside Bangladesh reported in 1998 that one third of the Bangladeshi national army was stationed in the CHT.1 Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Kalparanjan Chakma, speaking on the one year anniversary of the accord in December of 1998, indicated that some military camps had been closed.2

  1. “Politics-Bangladesh: Peace Deal To End Tribal Insurgency Derails,” IPS-Inter Press Service, November 30, 1998.
  2. “Former tribal rebels grumble on first anniversary of peace pact” Agence France Presse, December 1, 1998.

Withdrawal of Troops – 1999

Shantu Larma, the head of the interim tribal council, criticized the Bangladesh government for not withdrawing military troops from the CHT. The news report stated that some 20,000 government troops were stationed in the CHT based on security sources.3 On the second anniversary of the CHT Accord, Larma emphasized that the withdrawal of Bangladeshi soldiers from the CHT had not taken place and only 60 military camps out of 500 had been removed.4

  1. “Bangladesh’s new tribal council chief blasts govt over military,” Agence France Presse, May 27, 1999.
  2. “Former rebel warns of tribal trouble on two-year peace pact anniversary,” Agence France Presse, December 2, 1999.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2000

Regional Council Chief Shantu Larma criticized the government for violating the Accord by leasing out some 18,000 hectares of land in the CHT for army bases in the year 2000.5 According to a government spokesperson, 70 army camps had been removed from the CHT and more were scheduled to be removed.6

  1. “Brittle Peace with Former Rebels,” IPS-Inter Press Service, October 31, 2000.
  2. Ibid.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2001

A report on the CHT Accord put the number of army camps that had been removed up to approximately this point at thirty-five.7

  1. Bushra Hasina Chowdhury, “Building Lasting Peace: Issues of the Implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord,” (unpublished manuscript for the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002).

Withdrawal of Troops – 2002

No further information is found on the number of camps removed. In the meanwhile, the military has built new camps in the CHT since the Accord.1

  1. Ibid.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2003

On 2 December 2003, the Chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, Jyotirindra Bodhipriya (Shantu) Larma, gave a press conference calling on the government to fully implement the 1997 agreement. Larma emphasized several pressing areas: “We demand withdrawal of all temporary army camps from CHT and appointment of a full minister of the CHT affairs within 31 December.” According to Larma, the CHT remained under army rule as the government had yet to close or remove some 469 out of 500 temporary army camps in the CHT.8

  1. “Tribal leader demands withdrawal of Bangladeshi camps from Chittagong,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, December 3, 2003.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2004

A 2004 report stated that 450 military camps remained in the districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari.9

  1. “Bangladesh: Peace Threatens To Come Apart In Restive Hills,” IPS-Inter Press Service, January 5, 2004.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2005

According to a PCJSS report, new army camps were established in 2005 at Betchari of Tarasa under Rowangchari upazila and at Bangalhalia bazar under Rajasthali upazila.10

  1. “Report on the Status of Implementation of the CHT Accord,” PCJSS, 2011.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2006

As of 2006, the military was still heavily involved in the administration of the CHT and the majority of military camps had not been removed. One report on the implementation of the Accord indicated that 152 of 543 camps had been withdrawn.11 The PCJSS claimed that around 31 military camps out of 500 have been removed from the CHT. The government claimed that 172 camps had been removed. Given these estimates, 66% to 94% of military camps have not been removed from the CHT.12

  1. Pranab Kumar Panday and Ishtiaq Jamil, “Conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh: An Unimplemented Accord and Continued Violence,” Asian Survey 49, no. 6(2009): 1063.
  2. “Report on the Status of Implementation of the CHT Accord,” PCJSS, 2011.

Withdrawal of Troops – 2007

Concluding its final report on the CHT Accord, the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stated that, “with its pervasive power and influence over Bangladesh society in general and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in particular, the army continues to oppose any substantive progress on the implementation of the Accord.” The same report went on to conclude that “[R]ather than a diminishing of the powers of the military in the region in accordance with the AccordÉ there has been a further strengthening of the control of the military.”12

  1. “Study on the Status of Implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997,” U.N. Economic and Social Council, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 10th Session (E/C.19/2011/6), February 18, 2011, 16.