300 indigenous people flee home in southeastern Bangladesh

Some 300 people in southeastern Bangladesh are now taking refuge at a community center after armed members of a local party attacked their villages, reported the Bangladesh Observer on Sunday.

The refugees of 69 indigenous families from seven remote villages in Rangamati district, which is located in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area, said another 500 villagers are taking shelter in nearby jungles due to continued threats by the armed assailants.

According to the refugees, members of the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) that opposes the CHT peace accord allegedly raided the remote villages at the end of August, killing one person, abducting two, looting valuables, torching houses and demanding toll from the villagers. They threatened the villagers with dire consequences if they raised their voice against them.

Locals were quoted as saying that the UPDF members were accompanied by some people with long beard believed to be linked to underground militants and they turned violent after they faced a strong encounter from pro-peace accord armed men about a month ago.

The two victims being abducted were yet to be recovered, while the indigenous residents in the mountainous jungle area are still left in panic amid intermittent fights between the two sides, pro and anti-peace accord, respectively.

CHT is a mountainous area in southeast Bangladesh bordering Myanmar and India. As the original inhabitants, the tribal people there have fought with the governments for decades demanding autonomy in their hill tracts.

The former government of Sheikh Hasina signed a peace accord inDecember 1997 with Santu Larma, the tribal leader of rebel fighters and chief of Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS: the People's Solidarity Committee), ending decades of conflicts.

The UPDF, however, still demanding "full autonomy" of the CHT, declared the PCJSS leader sacrificed the interest of the hill people through signing the peace accord.

Over 100 tribal people have been killed in the conflicts between the two sides after the signing of the peace agreement.

Source: Xinhua