Hill Voice, 20 June 2025, Bandarban: It has been reported that a group of Bangladesh Army from Alikadam Army Zone in Bandarban district has arrested a total of 9 innocent Jumma villagers from Tongkabati Union in Bandarban Sadar as well as Lama and Alikadam, and detained them in Alikadam Army Zone. It is also reported that one of the detainees is an around seventy-year-old man.

It is reported that among those arrested are 5 people from Chakma Punarbasan Para village in Tongkabati Union and 4 from Lama and Alikadam. These innocent people were arrested in a so-called army operation by Alikadam military zone early this morning, June 20. After the arrest, the army are reportedly in the process of filing false cases against the people.

It is learnt that at first at around 4:20 am today, a group of soldiers from Alikadam Army Zone went to Chakma Punarbasan Para and Tripura Punarbasan Para villages in Ward No. 7 of Tongkabati Union and apprehended 17 male Jumma villagers. The army then released 12 of the 17 after interrogating them on the way, while taking the remaining 5 to Alikadam Army Zone.

The 5 villagers detained in the Alikadam Army Zone are: (1) Kalpa Ranjan Chakma (45), son of Dhana Chandra Chakma; (2) Jyoti Bikash Chakma (38), son of Dhana Chandra Chakma; (3) Shanti Chakma (37), son of Sundar Moni Chakma; (4) Tarunisen Chakma alias Sathoai (50), son of Kegera Chakma and (5) Ananda Mohan Chakma (67), son of Tukke Chakma, who is the current Karbari (village head) of the village.

Apart from the above 5 people, the army have reportedly arrested 4 more Jumma villagers from Alikadam and Lama and detained them in the Alikadam Army Zone. However, the names of the 4 people are not known till the time of writing this report. It is learnt that the army are currently trying to file false cases against all of them. For this, it is also learnt that the army have conspiratorially taken pictures of the detainees with local old and illegal weapons.

On the other hand, the 12 villagers of the Chakma Punarbasan Para and Tripura Punarbasan Para who were released after harassment are: (1) Bijoy Hongso Chakma (56), son of Ramdhan Chakma; (2) Prem Ranjan Chakma (43), son of Sundar Moni Chakma; (3) Ratan Ketu Chakma (43), son of Upendra Chakma; (4) Imon Chakma (22), son of Dhana Kumar Chakma; (5) Rupayan Chakma (15), son of Tarunisen Chakma; (6) Shantimoy Chakma (29), son of Fakira Chakma; (7) Barun Chakma (38), son of Dibakar Chakma; (8) Chandra Chakma (42), son of Akshajoy Chakma; (9) Siddhartha Chakma (28), son of Akshajoy Chakma; (10) Amarjit Chakma (33), son of Lamba Hulo Chakma; (11) Shanti Tripura (40), son of Jyoti Tripura and (12) Joy Tripura (22), son of John Tripura.

It is not known for sure why the army detained these innocent villagers. However, a source said that for a few days, some Bengali businessmen from Alikadam had been going to Chakma Punarbasan Para village to get land to set up a brickfield factory. For this, the Bengali businessmen were also pressuring the Jumma villagers in various ways. At one point, some unidentified persons obstructed the Bengali businessmen from setting up a brickfield.

The source believes that the army carried out the so-called military operation and arrested the innocent villagers at the instigation of those Bengali businessmen.