JS body vows action against CHT arsonists
A parliamentary panel yesterday assured the arson victims here of efforts to ensure a proper probe into the recent spate of violence and exemplary punishment to the culprits.
The standing committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry gave the assurance while visiting the areas affected by the recent fighting between settlers and indigenous people.
Mohammad Shah Alam, who led the five-member team in the daylong visit, told newsmen, "We are here to gather information. The culprits in the arson will be identified and given exemplary punishment."
The committee members went to Baghaihat of Rangamati's Baghaichhari upazila in the morning and the affected neighbourhoods in Khagrachhari town in the afternoon.
They had separate meetings with indigenous people and Bangalee settlers in the areas where rioting and arson cost three lives in February.
The committee told the press that they would meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on March 9 and finalise the next course of action.
Lawmakers ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Ethin Rakhain, Gias Uddin Ahmad and Jatindra Lal Tripura are the other members of the team.
Briefing newsmen at Satbaiyapara in Khagrachhari town, Fazle Karim said the violence was planned to create unrest in the hills. Tough actions would be taken against those responsible.
He claimed the local administration has already identified the culprits. He however would not disclose their identities.
The settlers and indigenous people gave the JS team their accounts of the incidents that rattled the hills areas between February 19 and 23.
Victims at Gangaram Mukh of Baghaihat blamed the Bangalees for the killings and arson. They also demanded withdrawal of the army from the area.
In Khagrachhari town, Hasina Akhter, 34, a Bangalee, said their neighbourhood looked like a war zone after fire burned everything that the indigenous community owned at Mohazon Para.
In retaliation, the hills people torched 10 houses belonging to the settlers.
Milon Chakma, an assistant teacher of Khagrachhari Government High School, said her home was set ablaze by youths wearing helmets.
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