chtnews.com
News No. 115/2009, September 09, 2009
Bangladesh military personnel from Naniachar zone yesterday beat up two settler leaders in Naniachari under Rangamati district for refusing to help organise a rally against government decision to withdraw one brigade of troops from Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The army had been putting pressure on Ayub Hossain, former chairman of Burighat Union, and Ansar Ali, an incumbent member of the same Union, to organise the rally in the name of Sama Odhikar Andolon, a platform of the Bengali settlers, which is backed the military.
However, the settler leaders consistently refused to take the diktat of the army, and this invited the anger of the army who summoned them to the camp and did the beating.
Even the Second-in-Command (2-IC) of Naniachar zone (1 Bir), Morshed Khan Pathan, took part in torturing them himself.
On the night of 8 September, the army also spread a rumour that the Jumma people had attacked Bengali settlers.
However, after investigation the settlers learnt that it was a hoax.
On 29 July, the Awami League government announced that it would pull out one brigade of troops from the CHT by September this year. In conformity with the said decision 16 army and para-military camps have been withdrawn so far.
However, the process of withdrawal has apparently been stalled in the face of opposition from the Bengali settlers.
It is now an open secret that the army is trying flat out to frustrate the pull out. It is not only giving full support to the settlers in their opposition to the government decision to withdraw troops, but also directly instigating them to resort to violence to thwart the withdrawal process.
Over the last four decades, the army has developed a vested interest in perpetuating their presence in the CHT.
According to a Samakal (Bengali daily) report, the army receives a huge amount of funds and food stuffs annually from the government under the so-called “Pacification Program” and “Operation Uttoron”.
They spend a tiny fraction of this amount and misappropriate the rest.
The army commanders also inflate their pockets by controlling the lucrative logging business in the CHT. No trucks load of logs can move out of the CHT without paying taxes to the army commanders.
If they are withdrawn, they will lose all these opportunities, and hence their opposition to the pull-out decision.
