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At least two people killed in ethnic violence
Bangladesh opposition blames army pullout for the clashes in the Chittagong Hills
- By Anisur Rahman, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 February 23, 2010
Dhaka: The main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), claims that the pullout of troops from the south-east hills under a 1997 peace accord has caused ethnic violence in the region.
At least two tribesmen were killed in clashes with Bengali-speaking settlers earlier this week.
"The decision of army pullout was a blunder and we had expressed our concern at that time saying army withdrawal might invite catastrophic consequences," BNP's senior joint secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Eslam Al Amgir told a press briefing late yesterday.
Insurgency
Al Amgir demanded a re-evaluation of the landmark Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace treaty inked during the 1996-2001 tenure of Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina's Awami League, which ended more than two decades of insurgency in the rugged region.
"Army presence is essential for peaceful coexistence and security of all in Chittagong Hill Tracts," Al Amgir said.
The opposition comments came as tension mounted in the hills after ethnic clashes that also saw a dozen villages torched over land disputes erupted between the Bengali settlers and ethic minority people.
The incident prompted authorities to call the army amid claims by tribesmen that seven people were killed in the clashes. Tribal groups claimed at least 1,500 indigenous people from 300 families in nine villages were displaced after the Bangali settlers burnt down their houses on Friday night and Saturday in the Sajek Valley area of the remote Baghaichhari sub-district.
Officials familiar with the incident said the tension erupted at the rugged frontier Sajek valley last month as the tribesmen wanted a piece of land where a Bengali family was living.
The tribesmen then demanded that all Bengali-speaking settlers in the area be evicted. The violence started on Friday evening after negotiations by the Upazila administration and police failed.
Under the 1997 agreement, the government is supposed to withdraw all military camps and security forces from CHT, excepting the main cantonments in three hill districts of Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati and end the land disputes.
Last year, nearly 66 out of some 500 makeshift army camps were withdrawn from different areas of CHT.
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