HC rejects two petitions for CHT army pullout ban

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The High Court (HC) has rejected two writ petitions seeking ban on partial pullout of troops from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), clearing way for resumption of the withdrawal, reports bdnews24.com.
The bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury made the order Thursday on the petitions that argued that the troops withdrawal would put under threat the lives of Bangali settlers in the hilly region dominated by indigenous people.
The court Wednesday reversed an earlier order that had suspended the withdrawal of army camps from CHT for two days on two petitions.
On August 13, advocate Tajul Islam and Badiuzzaman Khan, a CHT inhabitant, separately petitioned the High Court to halt the army camp pullout fearing that the recent pullout would void the earlier petitions.
The court set October 22 to hear two other petitions they had filed before the quashed appeals challenging the legality of the peace accord signed in 1997.
Tajul Islam told the news agency after the ruling: "The court rejected the petitions. It set October 22 for the hearing of the main petitions."
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after the verdict: "The process of peace accord implementation had started much earlier. Many acts had been amended rding to the agreement.