Attempted rape in Ghilachari and Panchari: HWF stages demo

chtnews.com
News No. 183/2009, November 11, 2009

The Hill Women’s Federation, a front organisation of the United Peoples’ Democratic Front, staged a demonstration in Khagrachari yesterday in protest against attempted rape on Juboni Chakma in Ghilachari and Sabita Tripura in Panchari.

At a rally held in Chengi Square, the HWF leaders condemned the attempted rape on these two Jumma women and demanded exemplary punishment of the culprits.

Ms Riku Chakma, president of HWF Khagrachari District Unit, brushed aside the accusation made by Brigadier General Abdullah Baki of Rangamati Regional Army Headquarter that “a regional political party is trying to use the incident (Ghilachari incident) to make the situation complex”.

She termed his statement as ill motivated and a desperate attempt to cover up the rape incident.

General Secretary of PCP Khagrachari District Unit, Apruchi Marma said Jumma women are vulnerable to sexual abuses by army and settlers and urged that government to meet the just demands of the people of Ghilachari.

Organising Secretary of the Democratic Youth Forum Khagrachari District branch Subir Chakma said there is no alternative to a complete withdrawal of the army and settlers from CHT.

“Our girls and women are not safe. They cannot go to schools, they cannot go to the rivers to fetch water or to take baths, they cannot go to their work, they cannot go to the temples, they cannot visit their relatives, they cannot go to the market places, they cannot go to the nearby jungles, they cannot work in the paddy fields, and now they cannot even stay home, they are raped every where. Even the small girls as young as 4-5 years and the physically challenged women are not spared.” he said.

Alleging that hundreds of Jumma women have been raped since the arrival of the army and the settlers in the 1970s and 1980s, he further said, “The job of the army and the settlers seems to be to rape our women and grab our lands.”

He maintained that there can be no peace and the Jumma women will never be safe until the army and settlers are withdrawn from CHT.