CHITTAGONG, July 5: A convoy of International Commission on Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs was attacked allegedly by the activists of Bangalee organisations in the Rangamati hill district Saturday.
The convoy came under attack near Omra Mia Hills locality while it was on its way to Chittagong in the afternoon, additional police super of Rangamati Habibur Rahman said.
Officer in charge of Kotwali police station of Rangamati sadar Soheil Imtiaz and member of the International CHT Commission Elora Dewan were injured. They received injuries on the head.
Members of six Bangalee organisations including the settlers put up barricade on the city's main road, burnt tyres and used logs in the morning protesting the visit of the Commission members. They threw stones on the convoy as it was coming to Chittagong under police protection.
An eight-member representative team led by Commission co-chairman Advocate Sultana Kamal, a leading human rights activist and advisor in the former caretaker government, went on a visit to Rangamati hill district from Khagrachari hill district on Friday night.
Earlier on Friday, Sultana Kamal said, "Human rights of the indigenous communities in Dighinala of Khagrachari in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are under threat. They want to live with dignity and live a natural life as citizens of the country as other people are doing."
The civil administration is responsible for ensuring the rights of the hill peoples, she said. She was briefing the journalists on Friday morning at the auditorium of Parjatan Motel at Khagrachari district sadar after visiting Babuchara area where a BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) battalion is set to be established.
She said that implementation of government projects is dealing a blow to the indigenous people of the region. "Local administration should have acquired the land taking into consideration the rights of the local indigenous people, who were evicted from their homesteads and had been passing a miserable life," she said.
CHT International Commission member and executive director of Transparency International of Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman, researcher on Chittagong Hill Tracts Dr Swapan Adnan and noted human rights activist Khusi Kabir were present at the press briefing.
In response to a question Sultana Kamal said, "After visiting the Babuchara union it has been observed that the people of the area are living facing injustice and other problems. The hilly refugee people who have returned home from temporary shelters in India to Babuchara have not been rehabilitated as per government announced programme."
