News No. 125/2011, May 23, 2011
THE armed gangs belonging to Santu Larma faction of the Jana Samhati Samiti opened fire indiscriminately on a group of UPDF activists while picketing during a dawn-to-dusk peaceful blockade of road and waterways in Rangamati district.
UPDF is enforcing the blockade to press its demand for the arrest of the killers of its central committee member Animesh Chakma and three others and removal of Santu Larma from Regional Council.
The incident took place at 9am today at Moghaicahri on Rangamati - Chittagong highway.
Eyewitnesses said a group of 10-15 Santu Larma loyalists came in four CNG-driven auto rickshaws from Ghagra bazaar and opened fire indiscriminately on the UPDF activists.
Panicked, the UPDF men ran helter skelter for cover. Puluchi Marma, 18, a UPDF member from Rajstali, is still missing. He is believed to have been wounded and taken away by the JSS thugs.
In another incident, suspected Santu loyalists shot and wounded a CNG-run auto rickshaw driver at Deppochari on Rangamati - Chittagong highway, not far from the scene of the first incident.
The area is under the control of the Satu loyalists. "We suspect that the Santu men carried out this pre-meditated attack to divert the attention of the people from the popular outrage being directed at Santu Larma and his armed gangs following the 21 May killing." Ani Chakma, a UPDF leader in Ghagra, said.
He added that after the driver was wounded, the Santu loyalists had tried to incite the Bengali people at Manikchari to violence against Jumma people in the area.
Alakesh Chakma, an organizer of UPDF Rangamati district unit, has condemned the terrorist attacks by armed gangs belonging to Santu Larma and demanded that the government immediately arrest them.
He also called upon Santu Larma to abjure violence and come to the negotiating table. "The people's movement led by UPDF cannot be subdued by terror", he said.