Violence in the Hills

Address the moot problem

The spate of violence in the hill tracts is distressing. The killing of an Upazila Chairman on May 3 was followed by the gruesome shooting that killed five and injured seven other indigenous people in Naniarchar of Rangamati. In the last six months 17 people were killed and many more injured in the CHT. It beggars rationale that nearly 600 members of various factions were killed in factional rivalries since the Peace Accord was signed in December 1997.

Reportedly, the violence appears to be the result of factional and even intra-faction rivalry. But we feel that the apparent may not quite reveal the real reasons for these clashes and deaths. The political angle notwithstanding, we believe that there is also a criminal angle stemming from economic compulsions.

Most of the violence and resultant deaths involve members of the erstwhile Shanti Bahini and the many factions that had emerged during the nearly two decades of the turmoil in the region. And the peace agreement we feel has not been able to provide gainful employment to many of the cadres who spent their prime virtually in the wilderness, in spite of the huge investment in the region, due to the lack of real economic activity. Rent-seeking and extortion are the only means of sustenance for them, and what we see today are the consequences of turf war for control of the area.

We would call upon the government to address this aspect seriously. Unless the economy of the region is geared up to provide jobs for the indigenous people, a good part of the peace agreement, we fear, would remain unfulfilled. 

• Courtesy: Editorial, The Daily Star/May 06, 2018