The Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission is Deeply Concerned about the attack on

Regional Council Chairperson and violence in Khagrachari involving the military

Dhaka, 30 March 2015: The International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC)
condemns the attack on the convoy of Chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council
and also President of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) Mr. Jyotirindra
Bodhipriya Larma on 11 March 2015. The attack was allegedly carried out in the presence of
police and other law enforcement authorities. A 72-hour strike was called in Bandarban in
anticipation of the visit by Mr. Larma under the banner of Jago Parbattyabasi (Rise Hill
Dwellers) and they may have been involved in this attack.
PCJSS reports that at least 12 members of PCJSS and Pahari Chhatra Parishad (Hill Students
Council) have been wounded. One car and two motorcycles, which were part of the convoy
carrying Mr. Larmas was attacked when they reached Balaghata of Bandarban town. Some of
the individuals involved in the attack were identified and CHTC has come to learn that they
involved local politicians belonging to both the ruling party Awami League as well as members
of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
In recent times there have been a number of attacks in Rangamati and Bandarban by various
Bengali settler groups on indigenous peoples, as well as those active in demanding
implementation of the CHT Accord. This includes attacks on CHTC in Rangamati in July 2014
and CHTC officials in Bandarban in August 2014. The nature of these attacks has been very
similar. The attacks have been carried out by members of Bengali settler groups with various
names and the attacks are carried out in front of various law-enforcement authorities indicating
collusion and patronization of law-enforcement authorities. This is an alarming trend in the
CHT and we strongly condemn such attacks and demand that those who are involved be
brought to justice immediately.
CHTC also condemns the violence in Babuchara, Dighinala which allegedly left six indigenous
persons and four army personnel injured on 15 March. According to media reports the
Dighinala Bhumi Rakkha Committee brought out a procession to protest the setting up of BGB
battalion offices in Babuchhara which led to the eviction of 21 indigenous families from the
area. Law enforcement agencies put up barricades to halt this procession which prompted
protestors to throw brickbats at the joint forces to remove the barricade. Police opened blank
fire and started charging batons on the protestors which led to the injuries. Earlier the CHTC
had expressed concern over the attack by 51 Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) on indigenous
villagers in June 2014 and after an on-site visit of the Commission members in July 2014.

Many of the attacks on indigenous people in the CHT are related to land acquisition by settlers
and by state forces. It has become vital for the government to make amendments to the CHT
Land Commission Act to ensure that the Land Commission chairperson can settle the land
disputes in the hills. It is also vital for the government to fully implement the 1997 CHT Accord
without delay to prevent further clashes and violence in the CHT, a pledge that the government
has been repeatedly making in its election manifesto but failing to uphold.
On behalf of the CHT Commission,

Eric Avebury
Co-chair of the
CHT Commission

Sultana Kamal
Co-chair of the
CHT Commission

Elsa Stamatopoulou
Co-chair of the
CHT Commission

Members: Shapan Adnan, Lars Anders Baer, Tone Bleie, Hurst Hannum, Yasmeen Haque, Sara
Hossain, Zafar Iqbal, Myrna Cunningham Kain, Khushi Kabir, Michael van Walt van Praag,
Iftekharuzzaman.
Advisers: Jenneke Arens, Tom Eskildsen, Meghna Guhathakurta.