Joint Force starts combing operation in CHT

A 'Joint Operation' by the Army, BGB and police has been launched in the CHT from Sunday evening to recover illegal arms and arrest armed terrorists involved in extortion, rape and political killings in the three Hill districts in recent days.
According to intelligence report, a large group of terrorists of the reformist Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS) and reformist United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) were engaged in reprisal killings and rapes in the hilly areas to establish their supremacy over the last two years.

A total of 33 people have been killed and 17 women and children were raped there and police found their discomposed bodies in the hilly areas but no case has so far been filed in these connections. Weapon recovery by army men began in Rangamati after the signing of the Peace Accord in 1997, but it did not yield fruit. The hill people want full implementation of Peace Accord as they believe that could help solve their problems.
"Conflicts centring extortion and exercising supremacy by the tribal groups have claimed 32 lives in 10 months in Chattagram Hill Tracts that halted the pace of development and destabilized the three Hill districts in last months. We apprised the government on the issue, but nobody listens to us�what can we do? We want peace here, we do not like to see further damages here," Goutam Dewan, President of the Nagorik Committee, told the Daily Observer on Sunday.

He said, "All these are the outcome of the non-implementation of the Peace Accord. Just one year back we were living in a different situation, the hill region was dominated by two political parties now there are four and two of them are reformists. What reform do they want? As the main parties failed to fulfill people's desire or failed to realize the success of the Accord, so the opportunists are taking advantage of the situation, Goutam added.

When asked if there is any success story which might be claimed as the outcome of the Accord?
Goutam said, "Yes there are many. But the right to land, the basic issue of the citizen, is not progressing at all. Constitution of the Zilla Parishad is also a big issue here it too is not moving ahead. A majority of the hill people does not like to see any terrorist attacks here rather would like to see a stop to all these conflicts."

The most unfortunate of all is that such conflicts have claimed the lives of at least 17 girls or women in the hill areas. Relatives of the victims found their sisters or wives' slaughtered body here and there in the hill areas but did not lodge any case against the brutal killings, said Adv Proteem Roy, former president of Rangamati Zilla Ainjibi Samity said.

"Unfortunately, not a single case has been filed against any one over the incidents in the last 11 months. We can assume that the victims' relatives go through huge pressure not to report but what the law enforcing agencies are doing? Police are trying to avoid investigation in remote areas of the three hill districts although rape and killing are increasing there," Adv Proteem added.

He said, "This is the repetition of Langdu incident in 2017, no one, living in the hill areas either a Bangali or Pahari would like to see any unrest. It is the law enforcing agencies duty to stop it," he added. According to these two members of the civil society of CHT, no case has been filed in CHT in connection with these incidents. Peace will be restored here when people will regain their trust and faith on the local administration and law enforcing agencies. Khagrachhari superintendent of police claimed that a faction of JSS is involved with the Friday's killing.

According to the Deputy Commissioner, an initial report indicated that a shootout occurred between the members of the UPDF Prasit group and the UPDF (Democratic) group. UPDF-allied Pahari Chhatra Parishad member Amal Bikash Tripura lives in the area and spoke about the incident. "We are in a precarious situation and we cannot leave our houses," he said.

The UPDF faction led by Prasit Bikash Khisa, who opposes the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, has more influence in Khagrachhari. Both factions have been at odds since the groups split. On January 3 of this year, prominent UPDF leader Mithun Chakma was shot dead in Khagrachhari. The UPDF blamed the UPDF Democratic faction for the murder. Then, on Febuary 17, UPDF activist Dilip Kumar Chakma was shot to death in Khagracchari's Harinatpur area. Four days later, another UPDF activist, Subhash Chakma, was killed in Dighinala.

On April 16, a man named Surja Bikash Chakma was killed in Khagrachhari's Perachora area. It is believed his death is connected to the enmity between the UPDF factions. On May 4, UPDF Democratic leader Jyoti Chakma and four others were killed as they were travelling from Rangamati to Khagrachhari.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord (CHT Accord), signed in 1997 with the promise to end armed conflict and grant a host of benefits to the indigenous Jumma people in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh, has rather increased tension in the last 20 years. Unfortunately, even after two decades, the accord has yet to bear fruit, while the sufferings, subordination, and exploitation of the Jumma people continue unabated.

"The Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, which shares borders with India and Myanmar, spans just over 13,000sqkm, and is home to about half a million Paharis from nearly a dozen indigenous groups. But still we do not have any data base of indigenous people, military solution is not enough to address the issue" Protish said.