ABSTRACT

A protracted armed conflict raged across the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh for nearly two-and-a-half decades before it came to an end with the signing of a Peace Accord on 2 December 1997 by the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and the Parbattya Chattagram Jano Samhati Samiti (United People’s Party of the CHT, commonly known as the JSS). Since then a post-conflict peace-building process has been under way. After 17 years, notwithstanding success in some areas, the process has failed to build a durable peace as envisaged in the accord. The key reasons for this are the inherent weaknesses of the accord and the GoB’s failure to implement key provisions of it.