February20 012 28F To ,SheikhHasina HerExcellency, nourablePrimeMiniste er Hon Gov vernmentof fthePeople esRepublic cofBanglad desh Prim meMinister

r rsOffice Tejg gaon,Dhaka a bject: Conce over th CHT Lan Dispute Resolution Commiss ern he nd n sion (CHTLD DRC) Sub Cha airmans latest unilat teral declar ration to hold hearings on lan dispute in nd es violationofthe eCHTAccord You urExcellency y, We write to draw your attention to the recent statement by the C t ts Chairman of the f CHT TLDRC (Land Commission) declaring that he d earings on l land disput cases will be te star rted from 2 February 2012. Sign 28 y nificantly, t this unilateral action has been m h made despite the co ontinuing lack of agree ement betw ween him and his fello Commis ow ssion mem mbersregardingthepr rocedureto obefollowe edinsuchh hearings. In the light of your recen reassurances at a m nt meeting wit the Chair th rman of the CHT 1 Regi ional Counc Jyotirindr Bodhipriy Larma, a reported in the press , that the cil rio yo as d Gov vernment i working towards implementing the 1 is g 1997 CHT Accord, i is it dish heartening to see that the Land Commissio Chairman is initiating actions that t on couldunderminethatvery yimportant tprocess. We believetha atitisesse entialthat theLand Co t ommission followsthe eclausesof fthe CHT TAccordandthatitshouldstartit tshearingsonlyaftert therequisit teamendments have been made to the d defective CH Land Dispute Settlement Com HT mmission Ac of ct 200 in accor 01, rdance with the chang propose by the CHT Region Council and h ges ed C nal subsequentlye endorsedby ytheMinist tryofCHTA Affairs. As you may b aware, the Chairm be man of the Land Commission has also ta e h aken mparable un nilateral decisions earl to cond lier duct a land survey and hold hear d rings com on the land d disputes, w without waiting for th 2001 A to be d he Act duly amended. thermore,h hedidsointhefaceof fstrongoppositionfro omtheindig genouspeo oples Furt oftheCHT,inc cludingthe memberso oftheLand Commissio onthemselv ves,suchas sthe airmanofth heCHTRegionalCounc cilandthet threeCircle eChiefs.Onthisoccas sion, Cha we understand dthattheC ChairmanoftheCHTR RegionalCo ouncilandt thethreeC Circle efs ot ceived any notice of t proposed hearings, even tho the ough Chie have no even rec they yareallme embersofth heLandCom mmission.
1

In nitiatives to im mplement the u unimplemente matters,Da Prothom Alo,Arun Kar ed aily A rmakar and Budd dhajati Chakm 21 January 2012. ma, y

 T ation We had earlier appreciated the decision of the CHT Accord Implementa mmittee,he eadedbySy yedaSajeda aChowdhury,MP,ini itsmeeting ginKhagrac chari Com on 26 Decemb 2010, to suspend all activitie of the La Commis ber o es and ssion, including ddisputeca ases,untilt theLandCo ommissionA Actof2001 1hadbeen duly hearingofland ame ended. We are appreh hensive tha this unila at ateral action by the Chairman of the f LandCommissi ioninviolat tionofthatdecisionw willseriously yundermine ethecredib bility ofy yourcommitmenttoim mplementthehistoric CHTAgreement,thec creditforw which belo ongstoyourExcellency ysGovernm ment. ourExcellen ncytotake necessarya actionagain nstthisunilateraldeci ision We requestYo byt theChairma anoftheL LandCommissioninvio olationoft theprovisio onsofthe1 1997 CHT TAccord,an ndtotakeimmediates stepstoimplementthepeaceagreementwithin thepresentten nureofyourGovernme entandthe erebyfulfilly yourelecto oralpledges. On behalf of th CHT Com he mmission

Eric cAvebury Coc chairofthe e CHT TCommissio on

Sultana aKamal Cochai irofthe CHTCommission

ElsaStamatopoulou fthe Cochairof CHTComm mission

Cop pyto(Notin norderofP Precedence): 1. Beg gum Syeda SajedaCho owdhury, M Honoura MP, ableDeputy yLeaderof fthe Hou & Chairperson, National Committee fo Impleme use or entation of the Chit ttagongHillTractsAcco ord. 2. Mr.GowherRizvi,Foreign nAffairsAdv visertothePrimeMinister. Dr. Dipu Moni, MP, Hon nourable M Minister, Ministry of F Foreign Aff fairs, 3. vernmentof fthePeople esRepublic cofBanglad desh,Dhaka a. Gov 4. Barrister Shafiq Ahmed Honourab Ministe Ministry of Law, Jus que d, ble er, stice d ntary Affairs, Government of the People Republic of t es c and Parliamen Ban ngladesh,Dh haka. 5. Mr. Rezaul Ka arim Hira, MP, Hono ourable Minister, Min nistry of L Land, vernmentof fthePeople esRepublic cofBanglad desh,Dhaka a. Gov 6. Mr. Jyotirindra Bodhipriy Larma, H a ya Honourable Chairman, CHT Regional e uncil,Rangamati. Cou 7. Mr. Dipankar T Talukdar M Honourable State Minister, M MP, Ministry of CHT airs,Govern nmentofthePeoplesR RepublicofBangladesh h,Dhaka. Affa 8. Mr Mohamma Shah Ala MP and Chairman Parliame ad am, n, entary Standing mmittee,MinistryofCH HTAffairs,G Governmen ntofthePe eoplesRepu ublic Com ofB Bangladesh,Dhaka. 9. Mr. Jatindra La Tripura, MP and Ho al onourable C Chairman, CHT Task Force C Refugees an Internally Displaced People, G nd Governmen of nt on Returnee R epublicofB Bangladesh, ,Khagrachari. thePeoplesRe Mr.BirBahadu ur,MPandHonourable eChairman, ,CHTDevel lopmentBo oard, 10. Gov vernmentof fthePeople esRepublic cofBanglad desh,Ranga amati. 11. Mr. Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury, Chairperso on, CHT L Land mmission. Com 12. Dr. Mizanur R Rahman, Chairman, N National Hu uman Rights Commis ssion (NH HRC).