Over 100 Chakma houses & shops set on fire in B’desh, claims rights body

New Delhi/Agartala: A New Delhi-based rights body claimed that over 100 houses and shops of the indigenous people belonging to the Chakma community were burnt down in Bangladesh’s Khagrachari district under Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) on Thursday.

Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) Director Suhas Chakma said that the large-scale arson and attack took place at Boalkhali, Dighinala Sadar in Khagrachari district by the illegal Muslim plain settlers on Thursday.

He alleged that the Bangladesh Army personnel who are stationed nearby at the Dighinala Cantonment did not intervene and rather provided support to the illegal plain settlers to carry out the arson.

“Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, lawlessness prevailed in the country. Chief Advisor Mohammed Yunus authorised the Bangladesh Army with magisterial power on September 17 but the same Bangladesh Army supported the burning down of the Chakma shops and houses at Dighinala Sadar today,” Suhas Chakma said in a statement.

He said that consequently, there are no Chakma people left in the Dighinala Sadar area.

“We are still waiting for details of casualties or other violence at this stage,” RRAG Director said.

He said that from 1979 to 1983, then President General Ziaur Rahman had implanted about 5,00,000 illegal Muslim plain settlers to reduce the indigenous population of the CHTs into a minority on their own land.

The illegal plain settlers constitute more than 50 per cent of the total population in the CHTs.

“The indigenous students under the banner of the “Sanghat O Boishamyo Birodhi Parahari Chhatra Andolan” on Wednesday organised “March For Identity” at Khagrachari demanding recognition of their rights and guarantee for distinct identities.

“About 40,000 tribals, unseen in the history of the indigenous peoples, had participated in the march. Thursday’s attack on the Chakma tribes is a response to this march,” Suhas Chakma stated.

He said that the burning down of the shops and houses belonging to the Chakmas and no safety and security from the Yunus government would be brought before the United Nations human rights mechanisms.

The Buddhist Chakmas mainly live in the Chittagong Hills Tracts of southeast Bangladesh, Chin and Arakan provinces of Myanmar and in several states of India’s northeastern region.