The government, using the “divide and rule” policy, was trying to create tension in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in order to evict the indigenous people, said members of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) at a protest rally in Manikchhari yesterday.
PCP, the student wing of United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) along with theManikchhari unit of Democratic Youth Forum, organised the rally yesterday condemning the recent attacks in the Bogachari area under Naniachar upazila of Rangamati.
They said the mayhem carried by Bangali settlers in Rangamati’s Naniachar village on the National Victory Day was a result of the impunity that the settlers had enjoyed since April, 2011, when a clash between Bangalis and indigenous people took place in Ramgarh and Manikchhari in the CHT.
The speakers claimed that the government was using the Bangali settlers to carry out the vandalism, arson attacks and a range of criminal activities in the CHT to evict the indigenous populace from the hills.
They strongly demanded exemplary punishment to the Bangali settlers who ravaged Bogachhari and called for immediate trial of Nizam for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of minor indigenous girl Umaching Marma in Kaptai on December 15.
They also demanded punishment to Badshah Miya who allegedly raped another minor schoolgirl in Taindong area this month.
Ziko Tripura, convener of Democratic Youth Front Khagrachhari branch, Amol Tripura from PCP and Hill Women’s Federation member Antie Chakma too, spoke among others.
The present government was giving false hopes of implementing the decade old CHT Peace Accord as part of its conspiracy to wipe put the existence of the indigenous populace, the speakers said.
They also said that most part of their land in Manikchhari was now under the occupation of Bangali settlers. If the trend continues, the hills would become void of indigenous people in next few years, they said.
They called everyone to remain alert and united against the government’s moves to create communal conflicts in the hills.
Thousands of men and women participated in the protest rally brought out from the Jamtola area in Manikchhari.
Locals and the officials who took part in the rally demanded security and compensation for those affected in the attacks on indigenous people’s homes, shops and places of worship in Bogacchari on December 16.