The Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad (BHBCOP) has demanded a judicial inquiry into the recovery of eight people in Bandarban on April 7.
“There have been confusions and ambiguities after the law enforcers recovered the bodies of eight people of the Bom community in Rowanchhari,” BHBCOP General Secretary Rana Das Gupta said in a statement on Monday.
He demanded that a judicial inquiry commission led by a retired Supreme Court judge be formed immediately.
Advocate Rana Das Gupta also urged the prime minister to take measures for the implementation of the 1997 Peace Accord to establish long-standing peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
At least eight people were killed on Thursday in a gunfight between two factions of the notorious separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) in Rowangchhari Upazila of Bandarban.
The deaths reported on Thursday are the highest in an armed incident in the area since the July 2020 incident when six members of Jana Samhati Samiti (Reformist-MN Larma) were shot to death at Baghmara of Bandarban Sadar upazila.
Also Read: 8 killed in gunfight between KNF factions in Bandarban
On March 12 this year, a senior army warrant officer was killed and two other soldiers suffered injuries when members of KNA opened fire on a patrol team in Rowangchhari upazila of Bandarban.
The deceased was identified as Master Warrant Officer Nazim Uddin, son of late Shamser Ali of Ghaghatpara village of Rangpur Sadar upazila.
On March 15, KNF members abducted nine people, including Sergeant (Retd) Anwar Hossain, while they were working on the road in the Longthasi Jhiri area of Ruma.
In a message on March 18, the KNF claimed that 30 people from the Bom community were detained by the joint forces from September 9 till March, and demanded their release. They threatened to kill Anwar Hossain if the KNF members were not released.
On March 18, the KNF claimed that land mines and bomb traps had been laid in its “territory.”
On the other hand, the joint forces said that 68 militants of Jama'atul Ansar and several KNF members were arrested during the operation.
