THE Hill districts of Chittagong is becoming restive day by day as tribal terrorists are gaining strength, said a Bengali daily on Sunday disclosing that they are storing heavy arms and ammunition in the hilly forest for carrying out sudden raids. These weapons are illegally coming from across the border. Armed wing of Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS) and United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF); which are opposed to each other on many issues, are creating tense situation. Not only Bangalees, tribal people are also not feeling secured from their threats. The situation is becoming complicated that needs to be, in our view carefully watched and held in check. We believe that the government must handle it politically while the law enforcers should remain vigilant against any outbreak of chaos. It is alarming that killings, kidnapping, rape and molestation of women are on rise. Illegal trade for drugs and arms is rampant as armed terrorists groups are running it to earn money to run other illegal acts. Not only common people, members of the law enforcing agencies are afraid of these terrorists. The situation is worsening day by day. But most crimes remain undetected, even unrecorded, as victims are afraid to take shelter of law. They fear their sufferings would increase manifold in that case.CHT peace treaty was signed in 1997 to restore peace. Now more than 18 years have passed when most terms and conditions of the treaty have been fulfilled by the government. But armed terrorist groups remained largely defiant. CHT was a peaceful region. Indigenous tribal people are peace loving till today. But tension in the region dates back to 1975 when some tribal youths took the path of gun-fight in the name of regional autonomy after the death of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They set up an armed group namely Santi Bahini and started to operate from across the Indian border. They killed many people as the insurgency continued for several years.After the peace treaty was signed it was hoped that peace and harmony would return in CHT. But it did not materialize mainly due to internal feud of splinter groups among the tribal terrorists. It appears that many of the JSS members did not surrender all their arms at the time of signing peace accord. These arms have become dominating factor again that need to be stopped. Santu Larma as head of the JSS is one of the signatories of the peace treaty and now Chairman of Greater Hill Council. In our view he should lend his hands to restore normalcy in the region. It is the collective responsibility of all to make sure that CHT is living in peace.
