Dhaka, Feb 20 (bdnews24.com) — Local leaders say at least five indigenous villagers were killed as army opened fire during clashes at Baghaichhari in Rangamati hill district on Saturday.
Rangamati's deputy commissioner confirmed the death of one tribal by a bullet in the forehead. A senior local council leader named five who he said were shot dead, while a regional rights group also said the army had gunned down at least three tribals.
The army would not officially confirm or deny the reports.
A local army officer, wishing not to be named, confirmed the death of one person "in clashes", while an army spokesman in Dhaka said he had no knowledge of the incidents in the hill district.
"I have heard nothing about it," Lt Col Kazi Mohammad Kabirul Islam, Inter Services PR director, told bdnews24.com Saturday evening.
"It wouldn't be right to comment without knowing."
Rangamati superintendent of police, Mahmudul Hasan, meanwhile, told the BBC: "I heard that there was an exchange of fire between tribals and army."
When asked why the army had fired, he replied: "There must have been some necessity for it."
Baghaichhari Upazila chairman Sudarshan Chakma named the dead as: Shantashil Chakma, 27, Natun Joy Chakma, 32, Lakkhi Bijoy Chakma, 40, Litan Chakma, 25, and Bhuddhapati Chakma, 36.
Baghaichhari sub-inspector Faruk Hossain said the body of Bhuddhapati Chakma was brought to the local police station with a bullet through the forehead. Rangamati DC Surendranath Chakrabarti confirmed the death.
The director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights, Suhas Chakma, could name two of the alleged victims in a statement released from New Delhi on Saturday.
"At least three tribals including Lakkhi Bijoy Chakma and Litan Chakma were shot dead this morning (20 February 2010), dozens were injured in the firing by the Bangladesh Army," he said, "while one Buddhist monk, Purnabash Bhikkhu, has been missing after a Buddhist temple was burnt down."
MIXED REPORTS
Reports from the neighbouring Khagrachhari district said the clashes between indigenous and settler communities at Baghaichhari left at least 50 houses and shops torched.
Local authorities clamped a ban on public gatherings in Baghaichhari around midday as tensions mounted.
Different accounts were received of casualties and fatalities during the clashes that first ignited on Friday night in the remote Gongaram Mukh area of Baghaichari upazila in Rangamati hill district.
At one point on Saturday morning, Rangamati DC Surendranath Chakrabarti and neighbouring Khagrachhari DC Mohammad Abdullah both claimed that the situation in Baghaichhari was "under control".
"There was tension on Friday night, but the situation is quiet now. Law enforcers have remained alert," Surendranath had told bdnews24.com.
However, things apparently flared up again. A number of locals said army personnel coming on the scene Saturday morning opened fire.
The tribals also claimed the settlers were the first to shoot at them, followed by the army. Speaking to bdnews24.com, Rangamati district PCJSS general secretary Bodhisatwa Chakma echoed the Upazila chairman on the casualties.
The army and the Bengali settlers, however, say the tribals initiated the gun attack.
Long-standing animosity exists between indigenous communities and settlers in the restive region where army have been deployed for decades.
But tensions have risen again recently with the government's move to start implementing the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord after a long gap.
RIGHTS GROUP CONDEMNS ATTACK
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) on Saturday sought the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and called for "appropriate actions".
Suhas Chakma, the director the Centre, gave more details in his statement emailed to bdnews24.com.
"At least four indigenous/tribal villages - Gangaram Doar, Retkaba, Purba Para and Guchachagram - under Sajek Sub-Division of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh have been burnt into ashes," he said.
"In addition, at least 7 shops in Ladumani bazaar, one UNDP sponsored village centre providing assistance to the indigenous villagers, one church and one Buddhist temple were burnt down yesterday night (19 February 2010).
"This particular attack on the indigenous Jumma peoples shows that the government of Bangladesh has failed to change its policy of indiscriminate killings of indigenous Jumma people in order to occupy their lands and implant more illegal plain settlers instead of implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997."
HOMES TORCHED
Local journalists said members of Parbatya Bangali Chhatra Parishad, a student organisation of the settlers, beat an indigenous man at Baghaichhari Bazaar during a procession on Friday evening, sparking the violence at night with at least 30 homes and shops set alight.
The two groups clashed again on Saturday morning, when at least another 20 houses at Hajachhara, Guchchha Gram, Balughat, Simanachhara, Baipaichhara, Suranganala and Kerekkaba villages were reportedly torched.
Tribals and settlers blamed each other for the arson.
Dharmabir Chakma, chairman of Dighinala Upazila, adjacent to Baghaichari, blamed "anti-Peace Accord settlers".
"Members of Parbatya Bangali Chhatra Parishad and other such activists torched the houses of the tribal people in a pre-planned way," he told bdnews24.com after visiting the site.
Chhatra Parishad chief Yakub, however, told bdnews24.com that the tribal people made the arson attack.
Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) and United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) announced Saturday that they would blockade road and river routes in Rangamati and Khagrachari on Monday to protest the killing of indigenous people.
PCJSS and UPDF rarely stand united as the former indigenous group supports the Peace Accord while the latter outfit opposes it saying it does not go far enough to ensure the hill people's rights.
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