Settler attempt to harvest in Jumma's land

chtnews.com
News No. 129/2008, July 26, 2008

A communal riot was narrowly averted yesterday in Longudu under Rangamati district when the settlers made attempts to harvest in a Jumma villager's land.

One source said Sagarbacha Chakma's wife in Baro Harikaba village went to harvest paddy in their land. But to her utter surprise and dismay, she found that some settlers from Bhaibone Chara had been cutting paddy there.

She made a strong protest and chased them away wielding a dao (a kind of knife) in her hand. A settler was slightly injured when she hit him with the dao.

Thereafter, a group of 15 - 20 settlers led by Nupur Ali (s/o Elahi Box, a VDP Platoon Commander) came back to mount a reprisal attack on the Jumma people. Apparently, the retreating settlers misreported the incident to their fellow settlers and provoked them against the Jummas.

When the settlers reached a village shop, they found a large number of Jummas already assembled there, a common sight in almost every village shop in the CHT.

Unaware of the incident, the Jummas asked the settlers what they had been up to. The truth came out when they talked to each other and a mutual settlement was reached.