RANGAMATI ARSON No measure yet for homeless ethnic minorities [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

RANGAMATI ARSON No measure yet for homeless ethnic minorities

Local June 05, 2017

Very few of the ethnic minority people, who fled arson attacks on Friday, returned to their villages on Sunday only to find no places for them to live in.
With their houses burned to ashes in the arson, they were trying to find shelter at relatives’ or in temples and many were still passing the days in forests as no makeshift shelter was made for them by the local authorities.
Security personnel reportedly attacked a group of youths at Dighinala in Khagrachari on Sunday morning when they tried to stage protests against the arson. The youths alleged that two of them were detained.
The United People’s Democratic Front, a regional political party in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, called
a half-day blockade of roads and waterways in Rangamati for today.
Pahari Chhatra Parishad also called a half-day blockade in Khagrachhari for today.
Ethnic minority leaders criticised the authorities for failing to provide the victims of the arson with temporary shelters and to contain the commotion in the hill districts.
They said that only one fourth of the victims were trying to return and they were finding it difficult to settle down at the villages where they had lived for generations.
‘Fifteen to twenty victims were seen when Rangamati Hill District Council chairman was visiting Tintila and Baityapara Sunday morning, but all of them left for shelters,’ said Langadu upazila nirbahi officer Tajul Islam.
‘They are taking shelters to their relatives’ houses located in long distance,’ he said.
Langadu union parishad chairman Kulin Mitra Chakma said that the victims were not returning as they were still feeling unsafe and had no way to stay at the burnt houses.

Nagarik Samaj organises a rally in Dhaka on Sunday protesting at a recent attack on ethnic minorities at Langadu in Rangamati. — New Age photo

‘Where do they will stay,’ he asked.
Bangladesh Adivasi Forum general secretary Sanjeeb Drong said that the arson victims were trying to return home, but they had no way to stay there.
He said one fourth of the victims tried to return home on Sunday.
‘We don’t see any measure taken by the authorities concerned,’ Sanjeeb said.
Langadu upazila project implement officer Abu Tayeb said that the administration was preparing a list of the burnt houses and shops, but the victims were not returning to the houses.
‘So far we have counted 212 houses and nine shops that were are burnt,’ he said.
Tayeb said 20 tonnes of rice and 424 blankets were allocated for the victims, but they are not returning to the villages.
Rangamati Hill District Council chairman Brishaketu Chakma said that it was a massive destruction of ethnic people’s houses and properties.
He said all the houses and some shops of ethnic people of three villages were fully burnt down. Most of the houses at Baityapara were semi-concrete buildings where most people were service holders along with thatched and corrugated iron sheet houses.
‘No one was spared from the mayhem’, he said.
Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti in a statement on Sunday said that it identified 17 people – two army personnel, 12 ruling Awami League activists and three Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists – as the masterminds of the arson.
Besides, it has identified seven people, including an army man, for instigating the attack.
Langadu police officer-in-charge Mominul Islam said that the police arrested five more people - Abdur Rahman, Abdur Rahim, Md. Jasim, Abdul Halim and Alamgir – on Sunday for their suspected involvement in the attack.
New Age Khagrachhari correspondent reported that at least 10 people were injured and two were detained as police and army thwarted a procession brought out by Pahari Chhatra Parishad, Ganatantrik Juba Front and Hill Women Federation at Dighinala on Sunday protesting against the Langadu attack.
The detained were Pahari Chhatra Parishad Dighinala unit president Nicle Chakma, and its secretary Jiban Chakma.
Dighinala police officer-in-charge Mizanur Rahman said the two were arrested as they brought out procession without police permission.
Rights activists and national minority leaders including Syed Abul Maksud, Jyotirmoy Barua and Sanjeeb Drong at a protested rally at Shahbagh in Dhaka condemned the arson attack and demanded trial of the perpetrators.