Schoolgirl’s rape prompts protests in tribal-dominated SE Bangladesh hills, paramilitary called in

Dhaka, Sep 27 (PTI) Tribals staged protests with road blockades using burning tyres over an alleged gang rape of a young student in a hill district in southeastern Bangladesh, prompting authorities to restrict movement and deploy paramilitary forces on Saturday.

Protesters, mostly belonging to majority Chakma ethnic minority group, demanded justice for the alleged gang rape of an eighth-grade schoolgirl in Khagrachhari district, one of the three hill districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts bordering India and Myanmar.

During the daylong blockade, under the banner of Jumma Chhatra-Janata, the protestors erected barriers at several key points of the town, including at its entry points, and also blocked vehicular movement at internal routes of the district using tree trunks, bricks along with the burning tyres prompting the officials to restrict movement, media reports said.

“We have enforced today (Saturday) Section 144 (of Criminal Procedure Code) at the town and adjacent areas banning rallies and restricting organised movements amid severe deterioration of law and order and the risk of harm to lives and property,” said a spokesman of district administration in Khagrachhari.

The order issued by Khagrachhari’s administrative chief, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Iftekharul Islam Khondaker, prohibited gatherings of five or more people, along with processions, rallies or assemblies from 2 pm Saturday until further notice.

Border Guard Bangladesh’s (BGB) Lieutenant Colonel Kamran Kabir Uddin said seven platoons or some 250 paramilitary troops were deployed to prevent violence and maintain order at the scene.

On Friday, a protest rally and a march were held protesting the “continued violence” against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, media reports said.

Police said they arrested a suspect identifying him just as Shoyon Shil with military assistance while a massive manhunt was underway to arrest the other culprits.

A Khagrachhari court subsequently granted police a five-day remand period for Shil’s interrogation in their custody.

Not just Khagrachhari, but the entire Chittagong Hill Tracts, draws a huge number of tourists due to its scenic beauty.

TV footage showed tourists walking with their luggage apparently to make their way out and move to safer places as picketing on regional highways leading to the district left long-distance passenger buses and vehicles stranded at various points.

Muhammad Yunus’ interim government in October last year slapped a temporary ban on tourists in CHT amid sectarian tensions between local ethnic minority communities and Bengali settlers.

The CHT had experienced a two-decade insurgency until a peace deal was struck in 1997.

The region is the abode of over a dozen mostly Buddhist majority ethnic minority groups.

The 1997 peace agreement between the then regime of now ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Parbatya Chattogram Jana Sanghati Samity (PJJSS) had ended the insurgency over regional autonomy for the hill people.

But sporadic unrest continued mostly due to in-fights among different break away factions of tribal groups including PCJSS and United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), a political party based in the CHT. PTI AR NPK NPK