He was speaking at a discussion meeting jointly arranged by PCJSS and the Indigenous People's Forum at the Women Volunteers Association auditorium yesterday.

Larma, also president of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), said if the government did not implement the peace treaty and the majority Bangla speaking people keep on exploiting the hill people, they would be compelled to start a guerrilla war again.

Larma said many people of the hill tracts could not enrol themselves in the recently updated voter list and the authorities did not care about it even after receiving complaints.

He said Bangladeshis started fighting the Pakistani rulers since they did not meet their demands. The people of the hill tracts would do the same if the Bangalee rulers do not meet their demands, he added.

He said Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League president, had the intention to do something good for the indigenous people but the immediate past government did not have any urge to implement the treaty.

The speakers at the meeting said the CHT should be treated as a national problem. A number of speakers said the people of the hill tracts should be involved in the larger political alliances of the country.

Pankaj Bhattacharya, presidium member of Gonoforum, Haider Akbar Khan Rano, politburo member of Workers' Party of Bangladesh, Rashed Khan Menon, president of Workers' Party of Bangladesh, Hasanul Haq Inu, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Mamunur Rashid, playwright, Prof Mesbah Kamal, Sadeka Halim, teachers of Dhaka University, Robindra Nath Soren, general secretary of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad, Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Indigenous People's Forum of Bangladesh also spoke at the meeting.

Matiur Rahman, editor of the Prothom Alo, urged the hill tracts leaders to increase their political power and make the Bangla speaking people understand the CHT issues. He assured the audience of focusing on the hills issues in his newspaper and inform the people of the matter.