JS caucus links arson in hills to 'third party'
The parliamentary caucus on indigenous affairs yesterday cited “a third force” as having instigated the recent arson attacks on indigenous people's houses and looting in Longadu upazila of Rangamati.
“A conspiracy is going on so that the Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty is not implemented. The attack on indigenous people at Longadu is part of that conspiracy,” said lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha, who is the chief of the parliamentary body, at a press briefing at the Jatiya Sangsad Media Centre.
The Workers Party MP at the time shared his experience from his day-long visit on Wednesday to Longadu along with a five-member team of the 14-party alliance.
On behalf of the parliamentary body, Badsha at the briefing demanded that the government reconstruct the damaged houses of indigenous people, compensate the Adivasis, ensure their security and give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators involved in the incident.
He also called upon the government to conduct an impartial investigation into what he said was the murder of local Jubo League leader Nurul Islam Nayan.
The arson attacks on indigenous people took place on June 2 in three villages -- Baittapara, Tintila and Manikjhorchhora -- after the discovery of the dead body of Nayan in adjacent Khagrachari district.
Meanwhile, tension mounted in Longadu centring on the recovery of dead body of another Bangalee settler, aged around 40, from near the Kachalong river. And that happened after the ruling party representatives led by Health Minister Mohammed Nasim returned from Longadu.
Police are yet to identify the body found at Sonai village of Mainimukh Union Parishad, adjacent to Longadu Union Parishad.
Referring to the sorry state of the Adivasis who are now living under the open sky, Badsha said, “They have no shelter, no security.”
The arson attacks were “well-planned” and that the conspirators used “the killing of the Jubo League leader” as an excuse to make the attacks, he added.
A section of political force was involved in the incident, said the chief of the parliamentary body on indigenous affairs.
“A conspiracy is going on to create unrest in the hills when a process is on to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty, when land commission is being formed.”
Awami League MP Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, another member of the caucus, said Longadu incident was not an isolated one. “There was political interest behind it.”
Lawmakers Nazmul Haq Pradhan and Mesbah Kamal, also part of the parliamentary watchdog of the CHT affairs ministry, raised questions as to what law enforcement agencies and the local administration had been doing during the attacks.
ANOTHER BODY FOUND IN LANGADU
The other dead body, yet to be identified, was found yesterday morning.
Chairman of Mainimukh Union Parishad Abdul Barek Sarkar said locals first came across the body near the Kachhalong river in Sonai upazila around 7:00am. On information, police recovered the body.
No one could identify the man. A fresh tension gripped the locality after the recovery of the body, said Mohammed Rakib Hassan, vice-president of Longadu upazila Bangladesh Chhatra League.
Police initially found no injury marks on the body and suspected that he might have drowned in the river, said Officer-in-Charge Mominul Islam of Longadu Police Station.
The body was sent to a Rangamati hospital for autopsy.
Several hundred Bangalee settlers from all seven union parishads of Longadu brought out a procession with the body of Nayan last Friday. Some of the mourners coming out of the crowd set fire to the houses of more than two hundred indigenous people.
Following the incident, male members of Bangalee families left their houses as police filed a case accusing 15 named and 300/400 unnamed of the attacks on indigenous people.
The affected Adivasis are yet to return to their villages.
“Still, people have not returned to their houses. There was nothing left of their houses,” said Atharakchhara Union Parishad Chairman Mangal Kanti Chakma who himself took shelter at a monastery, Tintilla Bon Bihar.
Police and army personnel were regularly patrolling the affected areas, he said, but indigenous people were feeling insecure as law enforcers already failed to protect them once.
Anvil Chakma and Minhaj Uddin contributed to the story.
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