Jumma organisations submit memo, demand publication of Kalpana Chakma inquiry report

chtnews.com
News No. 47/2009, June 11, 2009

Three Jumma organisations campaigning for full autonomy for Chittagong Hill Tracts today, 11 June, called upon the government of Bangladesh to make the inquiry report on disappearance of Kalpana Chakma public.

The demand was made in a memorandum submitted to the Home Minister by Hill Women’s Federation, Hill Student’s Council and Democratic Youth Forum. A three-member delegation of these organisations handed over the memo to the Home Minister’s Private Secretary, Md. Shahinoor Mian Shahin.

The delegation comprised Mithun Chakma, General Secretary, Democratic Youth Forum; Aongay Marma, General Secretary, Hill Student’s Council and Rina Dewan, Office Secretary, Hill Women’s Federation.

Before submitting the memo, the three organisations held a rally on Dhaka University campus at 11:30am.

The rally was addressed by Mithun Chakma, Aongay Marma and Rina Dewan, and moderated by Thuikyo Ching Maram, office secretary of the PCP.

Besides, representatives from a number of progressive Bengali organisations delivered solidarity speech in support of their demands. These speakers included Faizul Hakim, General Secretary, Bangladesh Mukti Council; Shibli Qyum of Naya Gonotantric Gono Morcha; Shubhra Chakravarti, Convenor, Seven Organisations Against Imperialism; Minhaz Ahmed, Joint Convenor, Bangladesh Chattra Federation; Hillol Roy of Biplobi Chattra Moitree; Nurur Rahman Shiplu, Convenor, Biplobi Chattra Jubo Andolon; Ashish Sharma, General Secretary, Biplobi Chattra Sangha; Mashud Khan of Prapada; and Sajeeb of Sanskritir Naya Setu, a Marxist study group.

The speakers urged the government to make the findings of the inquiry into the abduction of Kalpana Chakma public, and said the government must immediately withdraw military rule from the CHT in the interest of ending repression on the Jumma people.

“Peace has not descended on the hills even after the signing of the 1997 CHT accord, while human rights violations such as unlawful arrest, false cases, harassment and disruption of peaceful meetings and demonstrations still continue unabated as before”, they further said.

After the rally, the participants started to march in a procession towards Home Minister’s office at Bangladesh Secretariat but the police prevented them near Shishu Accademy. Later, a delegation went to the Home Minister’s office and handed over a memorandum to the Minister’s private secretary.
Ms Kalpana Chakma, a leader of the Hill Women’s Federation, was kidnapped from her home at New Lallyaghona village under Baghaichari Upazila in Rangamati district by Lt. Ferdous, then commander of Kojoichari army camp, on 12 June 1996. The incident occurred merely seven hours before voting for the 7th national parliamentary elections began.

The incident provoked CHT-wide protests as well as national and international condemnation. In one of the protests, a schoolboy named Rupon Chakma was killed in VDP firing in Baghaichari while three other Jumma youths were disappeared while on their way to participate in a peaceful road blockade.

In the memorandum, the three organisations said “the then government of Awami League had formed a three-member committee headed by a retired justice, Abdul Jalil to probe the incident. The other members of the committee are Dr. Anupom Sen, professor of social science department, Chittagong University, and the then divisional commissioner of Chittagong. According to press reports, the committee, after conducting inquiry, submitted its findings to the government. However, the previous governments have failed to make it public. Nor those responsible for the murder of Monotosh, Sukesh, Samar Bijoy and Rupon have been tried.”

“We have every right to know what happened to Kalpana Chakma and whether the committee recommended punishment for Lt. Ferdous and his accomplices.” the memo adds.

The memo put forward the following demands: 1. immediately publish the inquiry report on the disappearance of Kalpana Chakma and bring Lt. Ferdous and his accomplices to justice; 2. punish those responsible for the death of Monotoh, Sukesh, Samar Bijoy and Rupon who were killed for protesting the abduction of Kalpana Chakma; 3. remove all the army check posts put up across the CHT and end military rule enforced under codename “Operation Uttoron”; and 4. stop arrest of innocent people including members and supporters of the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), release all the political prisoners and take effective steps to stop human rights abuses.

HWF rally in Baghaichari

Hill Women’s Federation, a front organisation of the UPDF, will organise a mass rally in Baghaichari tomorrow to demand publication of the inquiry report on disappearance of Kalpana Chakam.

Progressive Bengali intellectuals including noted poet Abu Bakr Siddiq have been invited to participate in the rally, organisers said.