Indigenous people at Suridaspara Bazar in Rangamati where they had been gathering to protest the attack by Bangalee settlers on their homes since Tuesday. Photo: Star Bangalee settlers and the indigenous people were living in a state of insecurity and amid worry that the situation could turn worse any time at Burighat union of Rangamati's Naniarchhar. Fearing attacks, they were guarding their area
s day and night. None were entering each other's territory since Tuesday when hundreds of alleged Bangalees torched at least 61 homes of the indeginous. The night before, 4.5 lakh pineapple plants and 20,000 teak saplings planted by Bangalees on 10 acres of land were destroyed for which the settlers blame the indigenous people. Suridaspara, Tarunipara, Dijenpara and Koilashpara were predominantly indeginous while Bangalee settlers live mostly in Bogachhari and Islampur. The villages were on hilly terrain on either side of the Rangamati-Khagrachhari road. During a visit to the area yesterday, it was seen that the indeginous people were gathering at Suridaspara Bazar while Bangalees at Bogachhari Bazar, nearly a kilometre away. The army and the police have intensified their patrol in the area. A military van had been stationed at Suridaspara Bazar throughout the day yesterday. Several other vehicles were kept on the Rangamati-Khagrachhari road. “The settlers cannot be trusted. They might attack us again. So we keep vigil all the time,” said Ananda Chakma, a union parishad member who is mobilising the victims. Advertisement Sitting at Suridaspara Bazar, which is the centre of the agitation against the arson attack, he demanded that the authorities build new homes for the victims and compensate them. An arson victim there said the Tuesday's attack was part of a conspiracy to oust the indigenous from the hills. Protesting the attack, several ethnic organisations were enforcing an indefinite blockade of Rangamati-Khagrachhari road. A kilometre away, a group of Bangalees were seen agitated alleging that all focus was on the “pahari people”. “They chopped down lakhs of pineapple plants and 20,000 saplings of teak, causing a huge loss for the Bangalee farmers,” said Kamal, who was about to harvest 1.40 lakh pineapples before they were destroyed. Others expressed apprehension that the victim settlers might not get any compensation while local and international “relief and cash pouring in on the ethnic people”. “We can't even move freely in the hills as the paharis [people of the hills] have firearms. They cannot accept us and thus always try to put us in trouble,” said Kamal Islam, a shopkeeper at the bazaar. Many of the 300 Bangalee families living in the area were in trouble as they could not buy daily necessaries, like rice and oil, due to the blockade enforced by the indeginous people. Subedar Rajab Ali of a nearby police camp said they along with army personnel had been keeping their eyes on the indigenous and the Bangalees since the Tuesday incident. “We are trying our best to bring back normalcy,” said Shaktiman Chakma, chairman of Naniarchhar upazila parishad. He said the administration has decided to rebuild all the damaged houses in phases. “Initially, 15 houses will be built,” he told The Daily Star. After the arson attack, the district administration gave a committee led by him the responsibility to sit with the indeginous and the settlers for an amicable solution and peaceful co-existence. He is yet to sit with them. Naniarchhar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Nuruzzaman said they were going to start building the 15 houses this morning. “We have already bought all the house-making materials.”
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