GOC Shamim terms army pullout 'redeployment to HQ'

General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 24 Infantry Division Major General Mohammad Shamim Chowdhury today termed the withdrawal of the army camps from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) as 'redeployment' to the battalion headquarters.

“We are redeploying the camps to the battalion headquarters and may send them there again if necessary,” Shamim said at a press briefing at the Chittagong division headquarters conference room this morning.

The withdrawal of the army camps from the CHT region is a regular process and after the redeployment of 35 camps, as per government decision, 321 more camps will stay in the region, he said.

He also said the initiative of withdrawal of the army camps was taken considering the present peaceful situation prevailing at the CHT.

"According to regular assessment the camps, which were scheduled to redeploy, are found unnecessary at this moment, hence there is no need to waste money behind them in the region," he said.

The places from where the redeployment is being made could be covered from nearby camps, he said adding that as telecommunication facility is available, contact could be made with any part of the CHT at any moment.

The GOC also considered the handling of insurgency in CHT as a success and milestone compared to insurgency in Sri Lanka.

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