Dhaka: Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) chairman Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Santu Larma, on Wednesday threatened to go on a ‘non‑cooperation movement’ to put pressure on the government to fully implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord.

He came up with the threat while addressing a press conference at a Dhaka hotel, marking the 19th anniversary of the CHT Peace Accord.

Larma urged all the progressive and non-communal political parties and the civil society members to come forward with different programmes in support of the PCJSS’ demands and work as pressure groups.

He said if the 1997 peace accord is not fully implemented, the ethnic people living in the CHT region will be forced to take a harsher path for the sake of their existence. “The government will have to take the responsibility if any unexpected incident happens in the hilly region.”

The PCJSS chairman alleged that the government is spreading propaganda about the implementation of the peace accord only to confuse local and international pressure groups.

The government’s apathy to implement the CHT accord proves that it has no headache about political, social, economic and cultural rights of the ethnic people, he said.

Larma said the government is showing reluctance about implementing the peace accord and that is why the peaceful political scenario in the CHT is turning grimy day by day.

The peace accord between Shanti Bahini and the government ended decades of bloody armed struggle in the volatile hilly region in 1997.

Columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum secretary Sanjeeb Drong and executive director of Institute for Environment and Development Numan Ahmed Khan, among others, spoke at the press conference.