Bandarban tense over 72-hr hartal
Alleged settlers yesterday attacked a vehicle carrying supporters of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) in Balaghata near Bandarban town, leaving at least nine indigenous people injured.
The attack was carried out during the first day of a 72-hour hartal enforced by Jago Parbatyabasi, a platform of Bangalee settlers. It called the strike in the district on Tuesday protesting “extortion by PCJSS men”.
A motorcade of Santu Larma, chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, passed the area on way to Bandarban from Rangamati just 20 minutes before the attack. He arrived in the town in the morning to join the district council of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) tomorrow. The PCP is the pro-PCJSS students' body.
Among the injured, Puchu Thoai Marma, 40, Ram Babu Marma, 60, Porimol Chakma, 23, Swapan Tanchyanga,28, MongbaThoai, 52, and Roki Tanchyanga, 25, were admitted to Bandarban Sadar Hospital. Later, three of them were moved to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
A PCJSS member who witnessed the attack said a group of Bangla-speaking youths attacked a Chander Gari (locally modified 4x4 vehicle) around 11:40pm when it reached Balaghata, some three kilometres off the town, on way to Bandarban from Rangamati.
The attackers threw stones at the vehicle and severely beat up the PCJSS supporters with sticks.
Police said they detained one Morshed Alam, 24, in Balaghata in connection with the incident.
Our Bandarban correspondent reports: Pro-hartal pickets blocked the road in the town's traffic intersection area in the morning. Public transport stayed off the roads and most of the shops kept their shutters down during the hartal hours yesterday.
Criminals removed two spans of a Bailey bridge in Sonar Mondir area on Bandarban-Rangamati road near Bandarban town around 10:30am, disrupting traffic on the road for about an hour.
Abidur Rahman, a leader of Jago Parbatyabashi and joint convener of Bandarban district Jubo Dal, said they enforced the hartal as it has become difficult for local traders to operate businesses due to “extortion by PCJSS men”.
KS Mong Marma, a central PCJSS leader, claimed that the allegation of extortion against their men was baseless. A few influential Awami League and BNP leaders under the banner of Jago Parbatyabashi want to disrupt peace in Bandarban by enforcing hartals, he complained.
Jago Parbatyabashi on February 25 had formed a human chain in front of the Bandarban Press Club to protest alleged extortion by PCJSS men in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Activists of both the AL and BNP joined the programme.
Contacted, Devdas Bhattacharya, superintendent of police in the district, said necessary steps have been taken to avoid any untoward incident in Bandarban.
Members of the army and Border Guard Bangladesh were patrolling the major roads in the town at night, he added.
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