17 houses of Tripura community ‘torched’

Seventeen houses of the Tripura community in Bandarban were burnt down in an alleged arson attack early yesterday.

According to the victims, unidentified miscreants fled after setting fire to the houses at Notun Tongjhiri Tripura Para in Sarai union of Lama upazila at around 12:30am on Wednesday.

The attack occurred when the residents had gone to another village for prayers and Christmas celebrations, since there was no church in their area.

The Chief Adviser's Press Wing "strongly condemned" the arson attack on the homes of the Tripura community.

Locals said 17 of the 19 houses of the Christian Tripura community were burnt to ashes.

They said the area had been inhabited by the Tripura community for a long time. But they were forcibly evicted a few years ago by people claiming the area had been leased out to the wife of a police official during the Awami League regime. Those people then planted trees in the village.

Notun Tongjhiri Para's headman Paisapru Tripura said, "We've been living here for three to four generations. A group of people introducing themselves as 'the SP's men' evicted us four to five years ago."

The "SP's men" told the locals that Benazir Ahmed, who was the inspector general of police at that time, had leased the area in the name of his wife.

The residents came back and started living in newly built houses there following the fall of the AL regime, the locals said.

Gungamani Tripura, a victim, said, "Our houses have been completely burned to ashes. We couldn't save anything.

"Today is supposed to be the happiest day of the year for us. I never imagined such a thing would happen to us on Christmas." He demanded exemplary punishment of the criminals.

Citing Bandarban police, the CA's Press Wing in a statement said the law enforcers sent their officers to the spot. Police have also carried out raids to arrest the culprits. An FIR has been filed over the incident.

The statement said the deputy commissioner and the police chief of the hill district would travel to the village this morning.

Sarai Union Parishad Chairman Md Idris said he had heard that at least 17 houses had been burnt by miscreants.

During a visit to the affected area, Lama acting upazila nirbahi officer Ruppayan Deb said he had asked the victim families to file a written complaint.

The UNO said he initially gave one blanket and one sack of rice to each family. He also said he would discuss the matter with the deputy commissioner and the upazila project implementation officer and then take the next steps.

Md Enamul Haque Bhuiyan, inspector (investigation) of Lama Police Station, said the law enforcers were working to bring the criminals to book after an investigation.

He mentioned that many complaints and counter-complaints over land in the remote area have been filed since the ouster of the AL regime on August 5.