AGARTALA, June 17: Over 43,000 Bangladeshi tribal refugees, who are still sheltered in the six South Tripura camps, have refused to return to their homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of south-east Bangladesh, alleging that the Bangladesh Government has not implemented the 20-point economic package.

Announcing this decision here today, Ranjit Narayan Tripura, refugee leader and acting president of the CHT Tribal Refugees Welfare Association, told mediapersons that the Bangladesh government had not implemented the bipartite agreement signed by the Bangladesh government delegation and refugee leaders on March 9 here.

``It is meaningless to return to our motherland in CHT if the Bangladesh Government does not implement the provisions of the 20-point programme,'' he said, adding, ``we are always ready to hold talks with the Bangladesh government to solve the repatriation problems''. The refugees communicated their decision to the Indian and Bangladeshi governments through South Tripura District Magistrate Lok Ranjan today.

The refugees, who have been living in the South Tripura camps for the past 11 years, put up a five-point charter of demands for resumption of the fourth phase of repatriation. Their demands include: involvement of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and International Committee of Red Cross in the repatriation and rehabilitation of refugees, implementation of the 20-point economic package announced by Bangladesh, extension of benefit to all the repatriated refugees, one year's free ration to all the repatriated refugees and peaceful political settlement of the CHT crisis through talks with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity.

Tripura pointed out that as per the March 9 agreement, an 11-member refugee delegation, accompanied by Indian officials, visited the CHT last month for an on-the-spot study of the refugees' rehabilitation. According to him, they received 301 complaints of illegal occupation of land and 303 complaints of illegal occupation of homestead of the repatriates.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.