Hill Voice, 21 October 2022, Rangamati: Six Tanchangya villagers have been allegedly abducted and one of them killed by slitting the throat from Saizam Para of Barathali Union of Bilaichhari Upazila of Rangamati District by Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) terrorists known as Bawm Party.

According to local sources, last Saturday (October 15), Bawm Party terrorists and Islamic militants abducted 6 Tanchangya villagers from Saizam Para in Barathali Union and detained them.

First one villager and later 4 more villagers managed to escape from that situation. But a villager named Rangoa Tanchangya (32) could not escape.

Last Thursday (October 19), when the villagers were looking for Rangoa Tanchangya, they recovered his throat slit body at a place between Uluchara and Gangachara Paras of Barathali Union. He is known to be the son of Jugmohan Tanchangya of Saizam Para.

The terrorists brutally killed Rangoya Tanchangya by cutting his throat and separating his head from his body.

It should be noted that from last October 3, the army and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) started combing operations in the villages and large localities of Jumma people, which are considered as the strong organizational areas of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) in Bilaichari, Rowangchari and Ruma upazilas under Reingkhyong Valley. On October 6, RAB’s press briefing revealed the training and sheltering of Islamic militants named ‘Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya’ by the hill armed terrorist group and the operation turned against the Islamic militants and the Bawm Party that sheltered the militants.

After 19 days of the operation, today Friday (October 21), RAB announced that in the operation, they arrested a total of 10 people, including 7 Islamic militants and 3 armed terrorists of the Bawm Party.

Bawm Party propaganda says PCJSS is anti-Islamic:

In a video message last Wednesday (October 19), an armed terrorist of the Bawm Party claimed that, “JSS terrorists allege that Islam is being spread on these hills to expand the religion of Islam and Islamic groups or foreign separatist armed groups are being trained by KNF in their camps. It was with such false information that the joint forces attacked our camp. No militant organization has any affiliation with KNF.”

When contacted by Hill Voice on this matter, Augustina Chakma of PCJSS said that this complaint of Bawm Party is completely politically motivated. We first came to know about Bawm Party’s involvement with Islamic militant groups from a series of investigative reports published by the independent and objective news portal ‘Hill Voice’. After that, it was clearly known through a press conference of RAB on October 6, 2022 in Dhaka. According to the press conference, 12 Islamic militants caught by RAB have admitted to the location and training of Islamic militants in the hideout of the Bawm Party in the remote areas of the hills. Since then, the army and RAB have been conducting operations against the Islamic militants and the KNF, which harbors the militants. Therefore, Augustina Chakma pointed out that today’s fate is not due to the instigation of the PCJSS, but due to the imprudent activities of the armed terrorists of the Bawm Party.

In the video message, Bawm Party also alleged that, “JSS terrorists have been opposing Islam since before the peace agreement. …The main demand of the JSS was to stop the militarization of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the spread of Islam.” In this context, Augustina Chakma said, “JSS is never anti-Islam or anti-Muslim. Many pro-democracy and humanitarian Muslims continue to support the JSS-led Jumma movement for people’s rights as it is not anti-Islam.”

Augustina Chakma also said, “However, JSS Jumma has been waging movement against Islamic expansionism in the Chittagong Hill Tracts along with the people’s movement for rights to self-determination. Because, the Chittagong Hill Tract is a region inhabited by Jummas since time immemorial. Conspiracies of the then Pakistan and present Bangladesh ruling classes have been carried out one after the other to make the non-Muslim Chittagong Hill Tracts into Muslim-dominated area. That is, through Islamic aggression, the government of Bangladesh is carrying out a conspiracy to ethnic cleansing of the Jumma people.” Ms Chakma said that such racial and religious aggression is not acceptable in any civilized state of the world.

Augustina Chakma expressed her anger that “Rather, the Bawm Party has joined the Islamic expansionism in the Chittagong Hill Tracts by harboring Islamic militants in exchange for financial support, which is akin to axing itself.”