Six houses of indigenous people were brunt down in a remote area in Baghaichhari Upazila of Rangamati Thursday night.
Unidentified criminals set the houses ablaze at about 8:45pm in Dane Baipachora area in the upazila, our Rangamati correspondent reports.
The upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Baghaichhari upazila visited the spot Friday morning and confirmed the incident.
According to media reports, the clashes that began over a week ago between Muslim settlers and Buddhist tribals in the region has led to several deaths and many injuries. In addition, several hundred homes have been burned and thousands left homeless.
The UN “hopes that all will unite to help the recovery from this tragedy in a spirit of peace for the greater good of the nation,” spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.
Conspiracy for communal attack is still continuing in Baghaihat and Khagrachari. It is reported that today (on 4 March 2010) at 8.30 pm four houses of Jumma villagers at Daine Bhaibachari village under Baghaichari upazila in Rangamati district were set fire allegedly by military forces and Bengali settlers. The owners of the houses were identified as Dayal Kista Chakma, Kina Chan Chakma, Bidya Sadhan Chakma and Alo Rani Chakma. It is also reported that the Bengali settlers burned their two abandoned makeshifts first. Then they proceeded to Daine Bhaibachara along with army to set fire the Jumma houses.
Earlier, on 2 March 2010 at 4.00 pm Bengali settlers of Salbagan Adarshagram in Khagrachari municipality set fire their three houses. Witnesses said that Bengali settlers kept out the valuables of the houses and then set fire the houses. In connection with this conspiracy, police arrested one Abul Kalam who set fire his house and spread rumours.
Prem Krishno RoyA group of extortionists murdered a jewellery shop owner in front of police near Victoria Park in Dhaka's Sutrapur yesterday morning after he filed a general diary against them.
Prem Krishno Roy, 36, of Kailash Ghosh Lane in Kotwali, had received threats from the gang for the last three to four weeks.
Prem's wife, Swapna Rani, said the gang first demanded Tk 25 lakh but raised the amount to Tk 35 lakh when her husband refused to pay the sum.
Four days after receiving the first threat, Prem filed a general diary regarding the matter with Kotwali police station.
When the extortionists learnt that Prem had sought police help, they told him he would be killed in front of police at the earliest opportunity.
Prem was gunned down around 8:00am while returning home after dropping his two nieces at their school at Laxmibazar in Sutrapur.
A female witness who spoke on condition of anonymity said, "I heard several gunshots and looked backwards to see a young man fall down.
“Three youths fled the spot where a police team was standing."
Prem was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue sources said his body bore seven bullet wounds.
Prem and his elder brother Amal Roy owned the jewellery shop on the third floor of Mitra Vandar Market in Tantibazar.
Locals said a tense situation prevails among the traders in Tantibazar, who are regularly threatened by extortionists.
Officer-in-charge (OC) Mohammad Salah Uddin Khan of Kotwali Police Station said, "Tantibazar is a crime-prone area, which is why we deployed five police check posts to beef up the traders' security."
The deceased's wife, Swapna Rani Pal, of Kotwali, believes the extortionists are cadres of Dakait Shahid.
Prem returned from Dubai around three months ago and married Swapna a month later.
Swapna is expecting her first child.
In a separate incident yesterday, armed muggers shot and wounded three Tharmex Group employees and made off with Tk 69 lakh at Itakhula of Shibpur in Narsingdi.
The victims were carrying the money after drawing from a Sonali Bank branch.
Shibpur police said the armed muggers intercepted the victims' microbus in Itakhula, Narsingdi around 3:00pm and snatched Tk 69 lakh.
The bus was carrying Assistant General Manager (AGM) Zahidul Islam, Deputy General Manager Faruq Ahmed and Asad Mian, who was driving.
The muggers shot at AGM Zahidul and beat up the rest as they tried to resist the muggers.
OC Mujibur Rahman of Shibpur police station said they are trying to nab the muggers.
Every time Nirupa Chakma lost her home she hoped it was the last, and she always prayed that her next home would be cosy and warm.
She has spent the last 28 years vainly trying to find a safe haven.
Nirupa said, “Ever since I was born, I have had to experience life as a refugee.
Time and time again I have been made a refugee, and once again I have no home."
The latest incident that caused Nirupa to become a refugee was the clash between Bangalee settlers and indigenous people.
On February 20, Nirupa lost all her belongings, including her house and shop, in Purbapara Balughat.
Bangalee settlers stole Nirupa's television set, CD player, fan, and other items worth around Tk 1 lakh.
Bangalee settlers also took away seven of her 11 goats and three cows.
All this was committed in front of her eyes, before the looters set her house and shop on fire.
“When I saw the law enforcers I felt a little safer, thinking they would control the injustice.
"But the law enforcers were bogus -- they allowed the settlers to take away my things and destroy my home,” she added.
As a class 2 student in 1986, Nirupa endured the nightmare of losing her home in Mainee in Khagrachhari when Bangalee settlers attacked it.
The loss was to become a recurrent theme in her life.
She said, “I remember my father telling me the story of losing our home in 1979 in Longdu, Rangamati.”
Nirupa also lost a home in Gangaram Mukh, during an attack by Bangalee settlers on April 20, 2008.
Already too cornered and tired to move to some other place after losing her home so many times, she now feels that she is left with no other choice but to fight back as long as she lives.
Nirupa Chakma could not conceal her deep resentment when she said, “If I have to die, I should die here -- and if I have to survive, I should survive here.
"Anyway I have no other place to live.”
