CHT Border Road: 1,036km to pave way for surveillance

A border road along the three hilly districts of Rangamati,  Khagrachhari and Bandarban is being built to enable surveillance and  prevent cross-border criminal activities.

The government is constructing the 1,036km road, which will take approximately 10 years.

The construction of the road to make patrolling the remote areas easier started on January 1, 2018.

"The  first phase of the border road has already started and once it is  completed, it will open new opportunities," AKM Mamunur Rashid, deputy  commissioner of Rangamati, told The Daily Star.

It will increase  vigilance in border areas which are currently hard to reach and also  provide access to people living in remote areas, he added.

According  to the authorities concerned, the initiative comes as a response to  insurgent activities and smuggling along a 20-kilometre stretch of  unguarded hilly border with Myanmar in the southeast, which has become a  safe haven for insurgents and weapons smugglers.

The region  adjacent to this vulnerable stretch of border falls mostly in the  Chittagong Hill Tracts district of Bandarban, where thick vegetation and  dense forests make it virtually impossible for law enforcers and border  guards to navigate and is therefore completely unguarded.

The  border will run along the three hill districts of Bandarban,  Khagrachhari and Rangamati to strengthen border surveillance and check  the activities of insurgent groups.

Local law enforcers said  these groups smuggle in arms from insurgents active in India's eastern  states, also known as the Seven Sisters, and Myanmar through the largely  unguarded hilly borders with India's Mizoram and Myanmar's Chin states.

Of late, an armed group called the Marma Liberation Party has been active in these border areas, they said.

"The  Marma Liberation Party has been active in Bandarban border for the last  three years. Sometimes it is tough to reach remote areas,"  Superintendent of Rangamati Police Alamgir Kabir told The Daily Star.

According  to officials of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, several  hundred armed youths are operating in the rugged hills for four factions  of two well-known organisations -- Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati  Samiti (PCJSS Santu Larma faction), PCJSS (MN Larma faction), United  People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and UPDF (democratic).

Mathew  (not his real name) is a case in point. He joined the PCJSS in 2013 but  now realises that he is on the wrong path and wants to return to normal  life.

He shared his story of joining the force.

Mathew went to attend a PCJSS discussion with his friend and joined, being motivated by the speeches of the leaders.

He was moved to a border area for training and can now operate heavy guns.

He received a monthly salary of just Tk 500 and was tasked for collecting extortion money.

"If there was any big operation, only then was I assigned to go," he said in an anxious tone.

Mathew  said the groups have weapons like machine guns, self-loading rifles,  M16, AK-47s, AK-22s, AK-56s and even rocket-propelled grenades.

No one, however, could estimate the number of illegal firearms the groups have in their arsenal.

"Once the border road is constructed, the trespasses will stop and the illegal arms trading too," SP Kabir said.