Members come under attack:Daily Star

The Bandarban-Chittagong road in Sualok area of Bandarban is blocked yesterday allegedly by Bangalee settlers protesting the visit of International CHT Commission. The blockade was withdrawn in the evening. Photo: Star Two officials of the International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission and a police officer were injured in Rangamati yesterday when their vehicles came under attack allegedly from Bangalee settlers opposing their visit to the hill region. Commission member Dr Iftekharuzzaman, who is executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, and its research officer Ilira Dewan were injured, when a group of protesters hurled brick chips at their vehicles. Monu Sohel Imtiaz, officer-in-charge of Rangamati Police Station, also suffered wounds in the attack. Samo Odhikar Andolan and five other organisations of Bangalee settlers, who are opposing their visit to the CHT, were blamed for the attack. Leaders of the six organisations, however, brushed aside allegations of their involvement in the incident. The team has postponed its visit to Bandarban following the attack, commission coordinator Hana Shams Ahmed told The Daily Star last night. Meanwhile, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad and Parbatya Nagorik Parishad called off their four-day road and waterway blockade in Bandarban. The two organisations had imposed the blockade yesterday morning, protesting the commission's visit to the CHT. The commission comprising 13 civil society members from home and abroad has been working since 2008 with a mandate “to promote respect for human rights, democracy, and for restoration of civil and political rights, participatory development and land rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, including examination of the implementation of the CHT Peace Accord of 1997.” A delegation led by CHT Commission co-chairperson Sultana Kamal has been touring the three hill districts since Thursday to    ascertain progress in the implementation of the CHT peace accord and look into allegations of land grabbing “involving state machinery”, said Hana. On Thursday, the team visited Dighinala in Khagrachhari where the government acquired 29.81 acres of land for setting up a BGB battalion headquarters. The indigenous people there have been opposing the government move. Several organisations have opposed the visit, accusing the commission of being biased towards indigenous people and instigating communal conflicts between Bangalee settlers and indigenous people. The commission has refuted the allegations all along. Six organisations, including Samo Odhikar Andolon, announced that they would prevent the        commission from visiting Rangamati, and called a 36-hour road and waterways blockade in the district on Friday, reports our Rangamati correspondent. Co-chair of the International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission Sultana Kamal introducing injured Ilira Dewan, far right, a researcher for the commission, to journalists during a press briefing in the Chittagong Press Club auditorium, after a commission delegation came under attack by Bangalee settlers in Rangamati yesterday. The delegation went to Chittagong Hill Tracts upon receiving several allegations of land grabbing “involving state-machineries”, and following the recent government move to establish a BGB battalion headquarters in Khagrachhari. Commission Member Iftekharuzzaman, far left, and Officer-in-charge of Rangamati Kotwali Police Station Monu Sohel Imtiaz were also injured in the attack. Photo: star The other five organisations are: Parbatya Gono Parishad, Parbatya Nagorik Parishad, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Oikya Parishad, and Parbatya Samo Odhikar Chhatra Andolan. The delegation reached Rangamati on Friday evening and had meetings with CHT Regional Council Chairman Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Santu Larma, and Rangamati Citizens Committee, Hana said. The team wanted to hold a meeting with Samo Odhikar Andolan, but it didn't get a positive                    response from the organisation, she said. The delegation was scheduled to hold talks with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity and local lawmaker Ushatan Talukdar at the former's office at 10:00am yesterday. But members of Samo Odhikar Andolan and its front bodies put up barricades at different points, including Fisheryghat, Tabalchhari, Vedvedi and Parjatan motel in Rangamati town since yesterday morning, said witnesses and police. The team comprising Sultana Kamal, commission members Iftekharuzzaman, Swapan Adnan, Khushi Kabir and Sara Hossain, Ilira and Hana was forced to return to their place of stay at Parjatan Motel due to the road blockade, said Hana. The protesters, led by Andolon leader Nurjahan, took position in front of the Parjatan Motel and shouted slogans against the commission, she said. The team then started for Chittagong under police protection around 1:30pm. It came under attack from blockaders near the motel a few minutes later. The attackers hurled brick chips from both sides of the road, smashing the windows of their vehicles. “Brickbats started raining down on us from both sides of the road. It continued for two to three minutes,” said Hana. Ilira had to have four stitches in the head, and Iftekharuzzaman suffered injuries to fingers of his right hand, she said. The delegation later left Rangamati for Chittagong under police protection. The protesters lifted the blockade after the delegation had left Rangamati around 2:30pm. Payer Ahmad Khan, president of district unit of Samo Odhikar Andolon, claimed it was general Bangalee people who carried out the attack. He said Andolon leaders or activists were not involved in the incident. Jalal Uddin Chowdhury Alamgir, convener of Parbatya Gono Parishad, also ruled out his organisation's involvement, and said local Bangalee people, who were aggrieved at the commission's “controversial activities”, were behind the attack. He alleged that the commission had provoked indigenous people to act against Bangalees whenever it came to the CHT. Sultana Kamal, a former adviser to a caretaker government, suspected that the six organisations that were opposing their visit might have been behind the attack. “In democracy, differences of opinion or any misunderstanding can be resolved through discussions or other means. We wanted to talk to them but they did not want to follow any process,” she said at a press briefing at Chittagong Press Club in the evening. Commission member Prof Swapan Adnan alleged that “elite Bangalees”, who grabbed land and amassed wealth illegally in the hill region, are trying to create anarchy in the CHT. Meanwhile, different indigenous and rights organisations, including Ain O Salish Kendra, have condemned the attack and demanded legal action against the attackers.