A tense situation has been prevailing at the Kurmitola Bihari Camp since the bodies of those killed in a recent violence were brought back to the area on Sunday night following autopsies.
Nine members of a family were burnt alive at the camp at Kalshi in Mirpur following a clash between Bihari residents, police and Bangalees from Bauniabandh. Another person injured by a police rubber bullet died later. The clash reportedly erupted over the setting off of firecrackers.
“We were shocked when we found the bodies. It is the greatest tragedy I have experienced in my entire life in this Bihari camp,” said Ajimunnesa Ashrafi, who has been living in the camp for the past 43 years.
Abur Jabbar Khan, the chief of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee, said: “We are waiting to see what the government will do. If we do not find proper justice for the incident, we will go for a stern movement.”
Meanwhile, Ain O Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal, a representative team from the US embassy in Dhaka, and BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir visited the Kurmitola Bihari Camp yesterday and spoke to the locals.
“The failure of the police allowed the clash to become more violent and caused the deaths of 10 people,” said Sultana Kamal while talking to reporters.
She also pointed out that although it was the lack of responsible action by the police that triggered the violence, it was now senior police officials who were conducting an investigation into the incident.
BNP leader Fakhrul, on the other hand, called for a judicial investigation into the incident.
“We came to know that the [local] MP was behind the incident. For this we demand judicial investigation and exemplary punishment for the actual criminals,” he said.
Following Saturday’s violence, the Bihari residents of the camp claimed that supporters of the local lawmaker, Ilias Uddin Molla, along with Jubo League activists were involved in the violence that ensued because the locals had allegedly refused the MP’s request to provide electricity to the “Raju Bosti,” a nearby slum.
The six cases that have so far been filed with the Pallabi police station in connection with the incident have now officially been handed over to the Detective Branch, said officer-in-charge of the station Sayed Jiauzzaman yesterday, adding the police were alert to control the area’s law and order situation.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased were buried yesterday at a local graveyard following religious funeral rituals.
On the other hand, the Bihari residents of the Geneva camp in the city’s Mohammadpur yesterday blockaded three adjacent roads in the area and burned effigies of the local MP Ilias Uddin Molla, demanding that the culprits of the Kurmitola violence be brought to justice. They also urged the government to take initiative for a permanent solution to the problems of the Bihari community.
Law enforcers remain alert in the area to prevent any untoward incident.
In Chittagong, the Stranded Pakistani General Repatriation Committee placed a memorandum – addressed to the prime minister – before the district’s deputy commissioner yesterday, to press home demands that included the arrest of the culprits and compensation for the victims of Saturday’s violence in the capital.
In a press release, the leaders of the committee also called for the formation of a new judicial probe team, headed by a retired justice, reports our Chittagong University correspondent.
Shohel Aktar Khan, zonal secretary of the committee, said the stranded Pakistanis living in camps at both Dhaka and Chittagong were faced threats by local goons and outsiders who want to grab their land.
