UPDF-backed adivasi students’ group Pahari Chhatra Parishad is enforcing a daylong road and waterways blockade in Rangamati district demanding justice for the death of its Naniarchar unit leader Romel Chakma.
Road and launch communication between Rangamati and other districts has remained snapped but movement of auto-rickshaws is normal in the town, reports our correspondent.
No pickets were seen patrolling in the town, but were present in the UPDF-dominated areas.
Law enforcers have been kept on alert to avert any violence centring the programme.
Sub-Inspector Sourojit Barua said that they had no report of violence occurred in the district during the blockade. “Highway buses are not operating but vehicular movement in the town is normal,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
No long-route vehicles were seen playing on road in Rangamati
Dhaka Tribune The PCP will observe a sit-in programme in front of the Rangamati deputy commissioner’s office on Tuesday, and boycott Naniarchar Bazar the following day as part of their three-day protest programmes.
The group demands a judicial inquiry into the death of Romel Chakma, its Naniarchar Upazila unit general secretary, and arrest of the army personnel responsible for the “torture” that led to his death after two weeks during treatment.
Romel – an HSC examinee – was picked up by army members from Naniarchar Bazar to a nearby camp on April 5 and handed over to the police the following day. Police admitted him to Chittagong Medical College Hospital the same day with chest pain.
Also Read- Romel Chakma cremated, blockade called in Rangamati
He died on April 19 while undergoing treatment.
His family members claimed that they were barred from meeting him at the camp, as well as in the hospital.
Romel’s body was cremated at his Purbo Hatimara village Friday afternoon, Naniarchar Officer-in-Charge Abdul Latif told the Dhaka Tribune.
However, several other sources have claimed that the army members snatched the body while being taken to his village home and burned to ashes pouring petrol. Dhaka Tribune could not verify the claim independently.
The autopsy report is yet to be released.
There was no crowd at Rangamati BIWTA ghat like the other days
Dhaka TribuneOn April 6, Romel’s father wrote to National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque demanding justice for the "inhuman torture" inflicted upon his son by the army personnel, a claim the army denies.
The adivasi political groups have long been accusing the army and other law enforcement agencies of harassing or arresting innocent people in the CHT in the name of joint drives against criminal activities, and patronising radical Bangali organisations.
On the other hand, some Bangali groups linked to mainstream political parties are campaigning for equal rights for all in the CHT, cancellation of the 1997 peace accord and ban on indigenous criminal groups.
