All 6 representing ‘Jumma Chhatra Janata’ are from UPDF: CHT affairs adviser
The individuals representing the organisation ‘Jumma Chhatra Janata’, which recently called a blockade in Khagrachhari, are affiliated with the regional political group United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), interim government’s Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs adviser Supradip Chakma has claimed.
He made the remark on Monday night in Rangamati town, following visits to Durga Puja mandaps.
“The group calling itself ‘Jumma Chhatra Janata’ came to meet me today. Six of them attended, and all six are from the UPDF. In Khagrachhari, there is no entity outside of the UPDF. I asked them one by one, and they admitted, ‘yes, we are all UPDF,’” Supradip Chakma stated.
He further remarked, “That in itself is not a crime; people may hold their own ideologies. But I told them, ‘What you have done in the past few days does not appear to have been conducted in a mature way. There is a lack of maturity in your actions.’”
“The hill people always chant the slogan ‘Withdraw the army.’ Yet, in this world there are certain realities which we cannot so easily overcome. A day will come when, even if we try to hold them back by force, we will not be able to keep them,” the adviser noted.
During the Puja mandap visits, Supradip Chakma was accompanied by Rangamati deputy commissioner Mohammad Habib Ullah, superintendent of police SM Farhad Hossain, and other officials.
The six individuals who met the adviser on behalf of Jumma Students and People were Kripayon Tripura, Chaadak Chakma, Pintu Chakma, Toshita Chakma, Manik Chakma, and Bagish Chakma.
When contacted, Jumma Students and People spokesperson Kripayon Tripura said labelling the six of them as UPDF was “deliberate, insulting, and baseless”.
He warned that unless adviser Supradip Chakma withdrew his remarks, the organisation would not participate in further discussions.
“We will continue our movement to realise the legitimate demands of the people,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, Angya Marma, a leading organiser of the UPDF, told Prothom Alo, “Those six are not our members or activists.”