Blockade in 3 CHT districts, transport strike in Rangamati underway
A complete blockade is underway in the Chattogram Hill Tracts – Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban – from 6:00 am on Saturday on road and waterways. No bus was leaving these three districts, causing misery to the people.
Bikkhubho Jumma Chhatra Janata (Agitated Jumma Student-People) announced the 72-hour ‘CHT blocked’ at the Cherag roundabout in Chattogram city on Friday demanding justice over the death of four people in clashes between hill people and Bengalis in the Rangamati and Khagrachhrari districts.
The Hill Student Movement Against Violence and Discrimination, and the United People's Democratic Front also supported the blockade.
In the meantime, the transport owner association has enforced a transport strike in Rangamati for an indefinite period, protesting the torching of buses, trucks and CNG-run auto-rickshaws since Saturday. The association announced the strike from an emergency meeting on Friday night.
No vehicle left Khagrachhari for Dhaka or Chattogram. Buses of Shanti Paribahan were not available on the Chattogram-Khagrachhari route. Tickets are not being sold at the bus counters near the the Oxygen roundabout in the port city on Saturday.
No buses of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) left the terminal either. No inter-upazila Jeep service and CNG-run auto-rickshaw were available.
Jeep Owners Association president Nirnimesh Dewan said, “No vehicle will run from today. Our vehicles are operated in various upazilas and the Sajek area, and those are not leaving due to the blockade.”
Similarly, road communication with Chattogram to Rangamati and Bandarban are also halted. No bus of Paharika Express in Rangamati, as well as the bus of Purabi and Purbani are being operated on Saturday. None of the buses left for Dhaka. The movement of trucks and pickup vans were also postponed at the time.
No CNG-run auto-rickshaw was seen in the Rangamti town. Shops and business establishments were asked to remain closed. Businesses were closed as of 10:00 am Saturday.
Clashes broke out between hill people and Bengalis in Rangamati on Friday in the aftermath of violence in Khagrachhari that began last Wednesday, leaving four people dead and 80 others of both sides injured.
Local administration enforced Section 144 in Khagrachhari and Rangamati. Fear still prevails in some places while the army, police and Border Guard Bangladesh patrol the areas.
Reportedly the clashes started with a man named Mohammad Mamun, 30, was beaten up Wednesday on the accusation of stealing a motorcycle. Mamun, a resident of Khagrachhari Sadar Upazila died while undergoing treatment on Wednesday.
Protesting the incident, Bengalis brought out a protest march in Dighinala on Thursday afternoon. Allegedly, the hill people obstructed the march at that time. That is when the clashes erupted.
At one point, the houses and shops of the hill people were torched and the hill people fled towards remote hill areas leaving their houses.
A resident of Boalkhali Bazar area Md Lokman Hossain told Prothom Alo that they had brought out a peaceful march demanding justice for the killing of Mamun. The hill people obstructed the march. That set the conflict off. Lokman added, “We didn’t think that the houses would be set on fire like this.”
Dighinala upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Mamunur Rashid said that the Dighinala bus station and 120 shops in the Larma Square area have been gutted in the fire. There are 78 shops of the Chakma community and 24 shops of the Bengalis among them.
There had been an incident of overnight firing in Khagrachhari district Sadar on Thursday night, in connection to clashes between hill people and Bengalis in the Dighinala upazila of the district. Three people have been killed in the overnight firing and from the clashes in the afternoon. The deceased people are Junan Chakma, 20, Dhananjay Chakma, 50, and Rubel Chakma, 30.
Tension also flared up in Rangamati on Friday. Hill people brought out a procession under the banner of ‘Hill Student Movement Against Violence and Discrimination’, protesting the deaths of three hill people in firing and arson attacks on houses and shops in Khagrachhari.
When the procession arrived in Bonrupa area some threw stone chips, triggering tension that led to clashes between hill people and Bengalis.
Thirty to 40 houses and business establishments including the regional council office were also torched and vandalised in Bonrupa and Kalindipur area. Vehicles including buses, motorcycles and CNG-run auto-rickshaws were also vandalised, as well as at least 30 vehicles including the motorcycle of Prothom Alo’s Rangamati correspondent Sadhan Bikash Chakma were torched.
The clashes left one dead and at least 55 of both sides injured. The deceased was Anik Kumar Chakma, an honours student of Karnaphuli Degree College. Following the events, the 72-hour blockade was announced.
In the meantime, a high-level delegation of the government, led by home adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, is scheduled to visit Khagrachhari and Rangamati hill districts today, Saturday.