Illegal arms: worries for CHT

20 September 2013, 18:42 PM

UPDATED 21 September 2013, 02:07 AM

Kafil Mahmud, Khagrachhari

The availability of illegal firearms among members of different regional organisations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) has contributed to the deterioration of law and order in the region in recent times. The rampant smuggling of firearms had made inroads into three districts in the CHT from Myanmar through the bordering Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura, security sources told The Daily Star. As a result, different organisations working in the region were getting very easy access to the illegal arms, they added. These organisations are often getting engaged in gunfights, killing, abduction and extortion to establish their supremacy and meet their financial needs, detectives sources said, citing recent statistics of crimes and casualties in the CHT. In the last six months, at least 27 people were shot dead, and 12 were injured by gunshots. Around 75 people were also abducted in Khagrachhari and Rangamati during the period. Among those killed, seven are from the Santu Larma faction of the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), four from the United Peoples' Democratic Front (UPDF), and 16 from the MN Larma faction of the PCJSS. Against this backdrop, people living in the region think that they are under security threat. “We always live in fear because of frequent conflicts among these regional groups. They must stop this practice,” said Shefalika Tripura, chairperson of Khagrapur Mohila Kalyan Samity in Khagrachhari. When asked why the arms smuggling cannot be stopped, security sources said the lack of BGB posts along the 310-km India-Bangladesh border and 169-km Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the south-eastern Bangladesh helps the illegal practice to go unchecked. Taking advantage of the situation, the armed wings of the UPDF, which opposed the CHT Peace Accord, and PCJSS MN Larma faction use various secret routes of Khagrachhari whereas the PCJSS Santu Larma faction mostly uses the routes of Rangamati to buy arms from Mizoram, sources said. On March 7 and 8 this year, Indian police in two raids seized 31 AK-47 assault rifles, a Singapore-made light machine gun, a US-made Browning Automatic Rifle, 800 live bullets from a farmhouse near Lengpui Airport of Aizawl in Mizoram, which neighbours Sajek union in Rangamati. According to superintendent of police offices in three hilly districts, law enforcers recovered about 60 firearms and 717 bullets in Rangamati, 133 firearms and 1,260 bullets in Bandarban, 36 firearms and 283 bullets in Khagrachhari in the last five years, mostly from the members of the regional groups. Contacted, Mangal Kumar Chakma, press and information secretary of PCJSS Shantu Larma faction, said PCJSS men had surrendered their arms when the CHT Accord was signed in 1998, and had since been working for the full implementation of the accord. He blamed the UPDF and MN Larma faction of PCJSS for arms smuggling into the CHT. UPDF Press and Information Secretary Niran Chakma brushed aside the allegations brought against his organisation. He said, “The UPDF is working for full autonomy of the CHT.” Kakoli Khisha, press and information secretary of PCJSS MN Larma faction, declined to make any comment on the issue. Lt Col Towhid of BGB Southeast Region in Chittagong said a process was underway to increase the number of BGB outposts in the CHT to ensure the security of the country's unguarded bordering areas.