BGB cannot shrug off responsibility
The authorities of Border Guard Bangladesh cannot avoid the responsibilities in the killing of five people in Khagrachhari's Matiranga upazila, thinks the National Human Rights Commission.
The rights body came up with the statement yesterday, a day after a deadly clash that left five people, including a BGB member, dead and subsequently forced the BGB authorities to "temporarily" withdraw a camp in the area yesterday.
The statement said no matter who had fired the shots, BGB was the custodian of all the firearms used in the killings, and therefore, could not avoid responsibility.
Expressing grave concern over the incident, the commission said the matter was very sensitive and should be subjected to a fair probe to find out whether the situation had warranted the use of firearms.
The NHRC demanded those responsible be brought to book and wrote to the home ministry to take steps following proper investigation.
At least five people, including a BGB member, were killed and several others injured in a clash between members of the paramilitary force and villagers over illegal logging at Gazinagar village under Khagrachhari's Matiranga upazila on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, BGB claimed that it withdrew its camp on security grounds, reports our Khagrachhari correspondent.
"We have moved the Gazinagor BGB camp temporarily following directives from high officials", said GHM Selim Hasan, sector commander of BGB in Guimara region.
However, the district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Abdul Aziz yesterday told The Daily Star that the BGB camp was moved away from the area following a protest by locals.
On Tuesday evening, hours after the violence, villagers staged demonstration and demanded withdrawal of the BGB camp from the area.
Meanwhile, bodies of the victims were handed over to their family yesterday morning after autopsies.
A funeral procession of the deceased was held at the Botthali field of the upazila around 11:30am.
In the procession, several public representatives urged local administration not to harass the villagers in the name of investigation.
Speaking at the function, they claimed that the villagers didn't attack BGB rather it was BGB men who opened fire over a trivial matter.
They also rejected the press release issued by the BGB and said there was no issue of smuggling timber in the area.
Meanwhile, a three-member probe committee, headed by additional district magistrate Khandoker Mohammad Rezaul Karim, started its investigation into the incident.
"We already visited the spot and spoke with the villagers and some eyewitnesses," Karim said, adding that they were hoping to submit the report within next three days.
However, no case was filled in this connection till filing the report around 8:00pm last night, Shamsuddin Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of Matiranga Police Station confirmed it to this newspaper.
Additional law enforcers have been deployed in the area to avert further untoward incident, said the district's SP.
Local administration gave Tk 20,000 to the families of each victim to complete their funeral, said Bibhisan Kanti Das, upazila nirbahi officer of Matiranga.
Our Khagrachhari Correspondent contributed to this story.
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