Introduction

The decades old struggle for autonomy of the Jumma [1] peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh came to an end with the signing on 2 December 1997 of a peace accord between the government of Bangladesh and the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhiti Samiti (PCJSS—the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peoples' Solidarity Association). The armed members of the PCJSS deposited their arms and returned to normal life. However, doubts are increasing about the government's implementation of the accord in view of the protracted delays and its diluted enactment, especially in the case of provisions relating to the transfer of administrative responsibility to the Regional Council and the functioning of the Land Commission. Most of the army camps are yet to be dismantled and only 40 percent of the refugees have been resettled on their lands. [2] Among the tribal peoples and their support groups, it has widened the split between the pro-accordists and anti-accordists who have challenged the accord as not fulfilling the demand for full autonomy. Moreover, the highly polarized and divisive politics of Bangladesh makes the peace accord an issue of contention for the major parties. It remains to be seen how the present ruling party, returned to power by the election held on 1 October 2001, approaches the issue, which had been "settled" by its predecessor.

States have at various historical moments faced challenges posed by the divisive pulls of ethnicity, race, religion, and culture. A major issue of contention has been one of the sharing of state power by the dominant group. Often, some kind of devolution of power and authority satisfies the group aspiring to share power. On occasion, the demand for power sharing has led to a demand for autonomy, which when resisted transforms itself into demand for independent statehood. The emergence of Bangladesh is an example of the latter phenomena.

At the time of its inception, Bangladesh enjoyed a unique advantage, given the contemporary context of multinational states. It came into existence with a homogeneous population; less than 1 percent are ethnically different, and about four-fifths of the population are Muslims. Bangla (also known as Bengali) is practically the only language, with several distinct but not fully developed dialects.  But Bangladesh was faced with one of the most protracted struggles for devolution of authority and autonomy, leading to armed insurgency by the tribal or hill peoples. This struggle had a long history. In order to understand the political dynamics of the struggle it is necessary to fathom the interplay of historical forces. A large section of this paper is devoted to the history of the genesis of the struggle, and responses and reactions to the issue that came to plague the internal politics and security of Bangladesh.

This paper is divided into several parts. Part one is devoted to discussion of the geophysical, locational, and demographic aspects of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Part two deals with the historical roots of the problem, examining briefly the Mogul, British, Pakistani, and Bangladesh periods, and tracing the history of the transformation of a "crisis of identity" into armed struggle. In part three, the paper looks at the political responses of the different regimes towards the insurgency movement in the CHT and their initiatives or lack thereof for peaceful resolution. Part four takes a detailed look at the provisions of the CHT accord and examines the implementation status of its provisions. In a way, this part is the centerpiece of the present paper. Whether or not the accord is able to generate the necessary political will for implementation will determine the fate of the accord itself and the integration of the nation as well as of the national boundary. Part five proceeds to identify the weaknesses of the framework within which the accord was negotiated. This part examines its potential to restore lasting peace in the region and the adverse consequences of slow and partial implementation. Part six advances some hypotheses regarding the likely approach of the new government towards the accord. Part seven puts forward recommendations as to how to make the accord work for the unity of the nation. These recommendations have been divided into those that need to be followed at the national level and those that are to be pursued at the local level. The concluding remarks in part eight advocate for statesmanlike leadership, and for the accord to be function on a broad-based consensus, in order for it to make a contribution to lasting peace and to be an effective instrument for conflict resolution.

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