Published: 12:15 AM, 12 May 2026
'Stop gun smuggling, dismantle separatists in CHT'
Chittagong Hill Tracts Student Policy Forum organized a seminar in the National Press Club in Dhaka city on Monday (11 May 2026). Former Vice Chancellor Patuakhali Science and Technology University Professor Abdul Latif Masum attended the seminar as the chief guest. Brigadier General (Retd) Hasinur Rahman, Major (Retd) Jakir Hossain and Editor of Parbotto News Mehedi Hasan Polash spoke on the occasion among another few discussants.
The speakers at the seminar discarded the unilateral agreement signed between the then government and Shantu Larma's political party United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) in December 1997. The discussants slammed Shantu Larma for holding on to the UPDF top post for 27 years without elections. They also blamed Shantu Larma for keeping up a reign of terror in the Chittagong Hill Districts for last more than two decades. The dignitaries at the seminar complained that the terrorist outfits and separatist gangs in Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari are backed up by some local entities and foreign assemblages who disgrace the Bangladesh government's image in the international arena including the United Nations by means of false allegations.
The participants in the seminar also demanded immediate reshuffle of the District Councils of all the three Hill Districts. Criticism glared up from the speakers' narratives about armed gangs like Kuki Chin National Front (KNF) and Jana Sanghati Samity for kidnapping, extortion, gun smuggling, murders, drug trafficking and assaults on women across the Chittagong Hill Districts. It was also demanded during the seminar that the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) accord signed during December 1997 should be reviewed and necessary amendments need to be carried out rapidly by the present government through analysis of the agreement in Parliament.
It was recalled during the discussion that former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia led a long march to the Chittagong Hill Tracts in June 1998.
