JS body on CHT skips KNF issue
NEWS DESK
The issue of Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) has not come up for discussion during a recent meeting of the Jatiya Sangsad standing committee on the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.
Even though the meeting took place in the Rangamati deputy commissioner’s conference room on Thursday, the current turbulent situation in Bandarban and other hilly areas was not discussed at the meeting.
Chairman of the committee, Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing that there was no discussion at the meeting about the ongoing operation of joint forces or unrest in the hilly areas.
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts area, a joint operation under the leadership of the army is underway to prevent the terrorist activities of an armed group named the Kuki-Chin National Front.
When asked, Bir Bahadur said that he thought that the matter was within the jurisdiction of law and order forces and that there was no scope for making any speculative recommendations in this regard, and that’s why the committee did not discuss the issue in its meeting.
He said that they had discussed various development projects.
A parliament secretariat press release said that a report was presented on various projects of the three Hill Development Boards at the meeting, while a report was presented there on the latest progress in primary education and the state of the tourism industry, as well as various other issues that were also discussed at the meeting.
At the meeting, it was recommended that the ministry provide free sesame seeds to encourage farmers in the hilly areas to cultivate sesame and to formulate a scheme to retain rainwater and use it throughout the year to solve the problem of a shortage of fresh water.
Apart from committee chairman Bir Bahadur, committee members Kujendra Lal Tripura, also the minister of the ministry, Rangamati Awami League lawmaker Dipankar Talukder, Jashore-1 AL lawmaker SK Afil Uddin, Brahmanbaria-2 independent lawmaker Md Mainuddin, and reserved seat AL lawmaker Jarati Tanchangya took part in the meeting, while the other members of the 10-member committee were absent in the meeting.
