Settlers enforce hartal in two hill districts

A dawn-to-dusk hartal enforced by Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad (PBCP) passed off peacefully in the hill districts of Khagrachhari and Bandarban yesterday.
PBCP, a platform of the Bangalee settlers, enforced the shutdown, demanding the arrest of the criminals who shot dead a labourer and injured two others at a brick kiln in Khagrachhari district on January 25.
Brick kiln worker Faruk Hossain, 19, was killed while Abul Hossain, 55, and Mohammad Shajahan 30, of Bhai Bhai Brickfield at Gazinagar in Matiranaga upazila of Khagrachhari were injured as the alleged cadres of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) opened fire on them for refusing to pay toll on January 25.
After the incident, the PBCP gave the government a 48-hour ultimatum to arrest the criminals which went unheeded.
All kinds of vehicular movement and shopping centers in the two districts remained closed during the hartal as pickets burnt tyres at different points of the district towns.
Chases and counter-chases took place between police and the pro-hartal activists at Khagrachhari Gate and Shapla Chattar around 10:00 am.
In Bandarban, there was no vehicular movement while shops remained closed during the programme.
Leaders and activists of local PBCP unit brought out processions in different areas, sources said.
The organisation will observe a day-long hartal in Rangamati today as the hartal programme in the district was postponed yesterday due to a function on fifth death anniversary of Rajban Bihar's chief monk Sadanada Mohasthabir, widely known as "Bana Bhante”.