chtnews.com
News No. 95/2013, Sunday, August 04,
2013
YESTERDAY’S settler attack in
Taindong in Matiranga has left seven Jumma people dead, 50 injured and around
500 houses in 10 villages burnt to ashes, claims United Peoples’ Democratic
Front (UPDF).
The dead include a 70-year old man
named Arun Mohan Chakma from Monodas Para, Kaladhan Chakma from Denochara and
Suresh Dhan Talukder and his mother in Sorbeshwar Para.
The identities of the remaining dead
victims could not be known. The settlers are believed to have hid the dead
bodies.
Deceased Arun Chakma’s son, Jyotish
Baran Chakma, who survived the attack, said, they had come under attack when he
was carrying his father on his back to flee to the jungle. “The settlers hacked
him and I had to leave him behind to save myself” he added.
Kaladhan Chakma was also reportedly
hacked to dead while he was running for shelter, his friend Suku Chakma told chtnews.com
from Indian border, adding that the settlers had also struck him on his hand
with a machete.
Suresh Dhan Talukder and his mother
are believed to have been burnt to dead inside their house as they could not
escape due to serious illness.
According to UPDF, about five
hundred houses have been burnt down, while five thousand Jumma villagers are
now inside Indian border seeking refuge there. However, the Indian security
force has not opened the gates for them forcing them to languish outside the
border fence.
In addition, about 160 families from
Porabari, Taindong and Bogapara have taken refuge in Ultachari Nabaranta Para
in Panchari.
The villages that came under attack
are Dewan Para, Taindong, Ajolong, Sorbheswar Para, Monodas Para, Bogapara,
Denochara, Bhagaban Tila, Bandorsingh Para and Talukder Para.
The settlers burnt the last village
at dead at night yesterday, while the first wave of the attack lasted for 3
hours from 3 to 6pm.
Wounded:
At least 50 Jummas have been wounded
in the attack, five of them seriously. The seriously injured include Fhoni
Bhushan Chakma, Member, Ward No. 1 of Taindong UP, Kala Kazi Chakma, Supayan
Chakma and Suku Chakma (Denochara). Of them, Supayan and Suku fled to India.
Fhoni Bhushan Chakma is among the 11
Jummas who came under attack yesterday and are now being detained by BGB.
UPDF in a statement termed alleged
kidnapping of the Bengali settler, Kamal Hossain, 27, as a farce, saying, ‘The
kidnapping was stage-managed to find a pretext for the attack.’
The settlers say Kamal Hossain’s
kidnapping had triggered the attack on the Jumma villages.
Pradipan Khisha, UPDF’s chief
organizer in Khagrachari, emphatically said, “We have inquired into the claim
of the settlers and found no substantial evidence that he was actually
kidnapped. Kamal was never kidnapped. The truth will come out if an
independent, impartial and fair inquiry is conducted.”
He put a question to the
authorities: “If Kamal is wounded, why he has not been admitted to a hospital
after the alleged rescue?”
Latest: victims return from Tripura
border
According to a latest news, the
attack victims who crossed over to Indian side of the border to seek refuge
have begun to come back to their respective villages after Dipankar Talukder,
Minister for CHT Affairs, and a BGB commander visited them and promised them
security of life and property.
-----------------