"I have learnt too much of brushfire"

- Major Mahabub

chtnews.com
News No. 30/2008, February 21, 2008

On 9 February a group of 19 army personnel from Ghilachari camp in Kawkhali of Rangamati district conducted search operations following the alleged kidnapping of Hemanta Chakma, a BRAC employee.

The soldiers searched four village kiosks at Panchari and scattered the merchandise all over the ground. They also interrogated the people about Hemanta Chakma. The soldiers asked Sunil Talukder, headmaster of Panchari High School, whether he knew Hemanta Chakma, whether he had been kidnapped and whether he knew his whereabouts etc.

When he replied in the negative, the army men tried to implicate him with the alleged kidnapping. Major Mahabub threatened him saying: "I am Major Mahabub. I have learnt too much of brushfire".

The army then took him to the school playground along with them. Teachers and students were playing volleyball at the time. Major Mahabub forced them to halt the game and asked each one of them about UPDF.

Five or six soldiers went to Binoyankur Buddhist temple, forced Rev. Dwip Bongshaw Bhikkhu, the chief priest of the temple, and another Buddhist Sramana (novice) out and took them to the playground.

The Major charged that UPDF hid firearms inside the temple. The Bhikkhu denied it and told him that he had never seen them carrying firearms.

The army personnel asked them to report to the camp if they knew about the whereabouts of Hemanta Chakma and then left.

Hemanta Kanti Chakma s/o Patindra Lal Chakma of Dolupara village in Bormachari under Kawkhali thana is an employee of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a non-governmental organisation. He was a member of the student wing of the Jana Samhati Samiti (Santu) and tortured many innocent students alleging them to be supporters of UPDF. He and his gang members did it with full backing of the army and JSS leaders. His usual method of operation was to beat up alleged UPDF supporters and then hand them over to the police or army.

The villagers of the area don't think that he was kidnapped. They believe that he was taken to a safer place by his torture victims to discuss compensation and the cases filed against them.