Latest from Sajek: merchandise seized

chtnews.com
News No. 83/2008, May 13, 2008

The settlers in Sajek appear to have put an economic embargo on Jumma populated areas, with merchandise for village shops of two Jummas seized at Baghaihat bazaar.

Sources said, on 11 May, two elderly Jummas in their sixties, Leipeda Chakma and Gyana Ranjan Chakma, were ferrying goods from Karengatoli bazaar to their shops at Gangaram Mukh. When they reached Baghaihat, a settler named Nazimuddin seized the goods, apparently on orders of the army officers.

As the Jummas protested at the illegal seizure, Nazimuddin asked them to contact the zone commander, Lt. Col. Sajid Imtiaz, the mastermind behind the 20 April attack on 4 Jumma villages in Sajek.

Attempt at capture or effacement of evidence?
Since 10 May, settlers have been cleaning the ashes and charred beams of the burned houses of the Jummas. "They are doing it on orders of the army and it is not clear if it is an attempt to capture our land or to efface the telltale mark of the brutal attack or a purely generous help" said one villager, who spoke to chtnews.com from Sajek on special arrangement.