Hill Voice, 25 May 2022, Bandarban: It is learnt that two leaders of Pahari Chatra Parishad (PCP) who were recently arrested by the Bangladesh Army from Chemidalu Para area of Kuhalong Union in Bandarban Sadar Upazila have finally been implicated in a false case.
The army and the police have implicated the student leaders completely unjustly and falsely as suspected arrested accused in the case of the killing of an army officer in an armed clash that took place about four months ago.
The two victim leaders were Thuimong Prue Marma (T M Prue Marma), vice-president of the PCP’s central committee and Thuinumong Marma, a central member. T M Prue Marma’s house is said to be in Headman Para of Thanchi and Thuinumong Marma’s house is in Paindu Union of Ruma Upazila.
On May 21, 2022, Md. Enamul Haque Bhuiyan, Inspector of Police, Ruma Police Station, Bandarban, applied to the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Bandarban, to keep the student leaders in jail. It is learnt that the two student leaders are currently detained in Bandarban Jail.
It is to be noted that although the names of the student leaders were not mentioned in the statement of the murder case of the army officer, the student leaders were mentioned in the police application as ‘suspected arrested accused’. In addition, the police statement states that ‘the two accused were not in good spirits’ and that ‘the two accused had been stationed in different sub-district area in Bandarban district for a long time and were involved in various activities including extortion with the hill terrorist JSS (Main)’.
When asked about the allegations, several rights activists in Bandarban, who did not want to be named, said that the allegations made by the army and police were completely false, motivated and conspiratorial. In fact, the military arranges these dramas as part of their efforts to cover up nurturing of terrorist groups and human rights violations, including land grabbing, repression and harassment of local Jummas.
A relative of the arrested student, who did not want to be named, said, ‘Students are working in PCP, it is not unfair and illegal. On the contrary, the arrest of innocent students and implicating them in false cases by the army is completely unjust and reprehensible.’ He added, ‘If they had been terrorists and accused in the case, they would never have gone to Rangamati in public through in front of the army camp.’
It may be mentioned that on May 19, 2022, at around 2:00 pm on the Bandarban-Rangamati road, the two student leaders were arrested by the army personnel from in front of the army camp at Chemidalu Para in Suwalak Union area of Bandarban Sadar. The student leaders were on their way to Rangamati on a motorbike to attend the 33rd founding anniversary of the PCP and the 26th Central Council.
It is to be mentioned that it is learnt that a shootout took place between the army with the alleged armed group on February 2, 2022 at around 10:30 pm in the area of Bathi Tripura Para of Ruma Upazila. Senior Warrant Officer Habibur Rahman, commander of Raingkhyang Lake Army Camp and two of his opponents were reportedly killed in the incident. A member of the army was also seriously injured.
After the incident, on February 10, 2022, Lance Corporal Abdullah Al Mamun of Raingkhyang Lake Army Camp filed a false case against 22 people including members of Jana Samhati Samiti and anonymous 20/25 others with Ruma Police Station. The said case’s serial number is 03, dated 10/02/2022, Section 16/332/333/353/307/302/109/34 of the Penal Code. The GR number of the case is 46/2022.
