Published: 11:13 PM, 17 September 2026
A Coordinated National Push for Lasting Peace in Bangladesh’s CHT
Golam Zakaria
Bangladesh has taken a significant policy step towards addressing the long-standing challenges in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) by forming three high-level committees to develop a comprehensive national strategy covering security, development, counterterrorism, border protection and communal harmony. The initiative brings together administrative experience, security expertise, policy coordination and local representation, signalling an attempt to address the region’s complex challenges through a more integrated national framework.
The Cabinet Division issued separate notifications on Thursday night announcing the formation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts National Committee, Executive Committee and Advisory Committee. Rather than assigning the entire responsibility to a single body, the government has established a three-tier mechanism through which consultation, strategy formulation and final decision-making will take place at different levels.
Three Committees, Three Responsibilities
At the highest level is the National Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister. It has a broad mandate to determine priorities on major issues concerning the Chittagong Hill Tracts, coordinate implementation among government agencies and finalize the national strategy for the region. The committee includes ministers responsible for finance and planning, home affairs, foreign affairs, land, law, and Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs. Senior officials from the Cabinet Division, Prime Minister’s Office, Armed Forces Division and National Security Intelligence are also represented, alongside elected members of parliament from the three hill districts. Its composition reflects an effort to bring political, administrative, economic, security and local perspectives into a single decision-making framework.
The second tier is the Executive Committee, chaired by the Home Secretary. Its principal responsibility is to prepare a draft national strategy within three months, drawing on recommendations from the Advisory Committee.
Its mandate, however, extends well beyond conventional security planning. The committee has been tasked with developing a national strategy to combat terrorism and separatism, strengthen border security, promote communal harmony and improve the living standards of all communities in the hill region. It will also review existing laws, provisions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord and relevant rules and regulations, and recommend amendments, reforms or new legislation where necessary.
Bringing Local Perspectives into the Process
The third body, the Advisory Committee, is chaired by the chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord Implementation and Monitoring Committee. It is responsible for providing recommendations on development, security, counterterrorism and communal harmony within two months.
Significantly, its membership includes representatives of several institutions directly involved with the region, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, the regional council and the three hill district councils.
The inclusion of the chairmen of the Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari Hill District Councils is particularly important. As local representatives from the hill districts, including key representatives of the region’s tribal communities, their participation provides an avenue for local and community-level perspectives to be incorporated into a national policy process. This makes the three-tier framework broader than a structure composed solely of central government officials, security agencies and administrators. It creates institutional space for representatives connected to the tribal communities to contribute to discussions on development, security, communal harmony and the wider challenges facing the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
For a region where land, identity, development, security and political representation have long been interconnected, such participation can help ensure that the national strategy takes into account the realities and perspectives of the hill districts themselves.
Moving Beyond a Purely Security-Based Approach
One of the most notable features of the initiative is the attempt to avoid treating the Chittagong Hill Tracts solely as a law-and-order or security issue.
Security and counterterrorism remain central to the framework. At the same time, development, social harmony, livelihoods, legal reform and institutional coordination have also been placed on the agenda. This broader approach is important because long-term stability in the hill region cannot be secured through security measures alone.
A sustainable solution requires security, economic opportunity, effective governance, social trust and a functioning legal and administrative framework to work together. By placing these concerns within a single national strategic framework, the government has sought to address the region’s challenges in a more comprehensive manner.
Reviewing Laws and the Accord
The decision to review existing laws, provisions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord and relevant rules and regulations is another important element of the initiative.
The Executive Committee has specifically been asked to identify areas requiring amendment or reform and recommend new laws and regulations where necessary to ensure sustainable security in the region. This could provide an opportunity for a broader examination of whether existing legal and institutional arrangements remain adequate to address the present realities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
At the same time, the inclusion of the Accord in the review process indicates that the government intends to consider the region’s political commitments alongside its current security and administrative challenges.
Stronger Coordination at the National Level
The composition of the three committees also points to an effort to address one of the longstanding difficulties in managing the Chittagong Hill Tracts: coordination among multiple state institutions.
The Executive Committee includes senior officials from the ministries responsible for land, law and Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs, as well as representatives of the police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Ansar, Armed Forces Division, intelligence agencies and the Chattogram divisional administration.
The National Committee, meanwhile, brings together key political and administrative decision-makers. Such a structure could help ensure that security, development and administrative policies are considered together rather than pursued separately by different agencies.
The notifications also allow the committees, when necessary, to bring in officials from the armed forces, security and law-enforcement agencies, as well as other individuals, for specific periods to provide expertise and assistance.
From Consultation to Strategy
The timeline set for the committees is also noteworthy. The Advisory Committee has two months to submit its recommendations, while the Executive Committee has three months to prepare a draft national strategy. The draft will then go to the National Committee for finalization. This establishes a clear three-stage process: consultation, strategy formulation and national-level approval. The real test, however, will begin once the committees complete their work. The Chittagong Hill Tracts has accumulated decades of political, security, land and development challenges. No committee or policy document can resolve all of these issues overnight. Yet the new mechanism represents an attempt to approach the region through a coordinated national framework that combines security with development, legal reform and local participation.
For a region where lasting peace has remained an unfinished national priority, the formation of these three committees could mark an important new phase. The challenge now is to translate recommendations into a credible strategy and, more importantly, to turn that strategy into measurable action.
Ultimately, the significance of this initiative will not be determined simply by the committees that have been formed. It will be measured by whether their work can contribute to lasting peace, greater security, inclusive development and stronger trust among the communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Golam Zakaria is a journalist
and columnist.
