National Citizen Party (NCP) convener and opposition chief whip Md Nahid Islam has said that a government has come to power with a two-thirds majority, yet there is no representative of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ministry, and that Dipen Dewan has been removed. “I don’t know when this has happened before in Bangladesh’s history,” he said.
He said this was possible because the government was under no accountability. The July charter should therefore be implemented, and a voice should rise from the hills too, he said, adding that the 1972 constitution had kept the country divided from the start.
He was speaking as chief guest on Sunday (2 August) afternoon at a discussion titled “July in the Hills: Equal Dignity, Coexistence and Harmony,” organised by the NCP at Chattogram Press Club.
On the crisis in the hills, Nahid Islam said the party stood for equal citizenship rights for all, while remaining uncompromising on sovereignty. Everyone together would secure that sovereignty, he said. The deprivation of the hills must end. “We hear of a different kind of extortion in the hills. There is a different kind of terrorism. These need solutions. Accountability must be ensured everywhere, from the hills to the plains,” he said.
He said the 1972 constitution had kept the country divided from the beginning — divided in the name of communalism, religion and society. Removing such divisions, the country should stay united on national interest and economic development, he said. The politics, society and economy of the hills were complex and had no one-dimensional solution, he added. The ethnic communities of the hills were deprived in various ways and did not receive equal dignity, while Bengalis too suffered various deprivations; foreign powers exploited the divisions and conflicts between them. “Our task is that we are all Bangladeshis. If this country is developed and there is fair distribution, everyone will benefit. The long deprivation and oppression of the hills need a political solution,” he said.
The discussion, chaired by NCP Chattogram divisional organising secretary SM Suja Uddin, was also addressed by NCP political council members Sarowar and Ali Ahsan Junayed, among others.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report