Hill Voice, 3 January 2022, Dhaka: Today 3 January 2023, Monday, at 4:00 PM, Dhaka Metropolitan Branch of Pahari Chatra Parishad (PCP) and Bangladesh Adivasi Chatra Sangram Parishad jointly organized a protest rally in Dhaka to protest the repeated arson and attacks in Soroi Union of Lama Upazila by Lama Rubber Industries Limited in Bandarban.
Leaders of various student organizations, including PCP and Adivasi Chatra Sangram Parishad, spoke at the rally which was presided over by PCP Dhaka Metropolitan Branch President Reng Yong Mro and moderated by General Secretary Jagadish Chakma. President of Dhaka Polytechnic Branch PCP, Rubel Chakma, delivered the welcome speech.
In his address, Reng Yong Mro said the arson, assault and looting in the middle of the night was an attempt to genocide. I want justice for this genocide. If we don’t get justice, if the people who fled in the dark of the night start a resistance struggle, the state will have to take the responsibility. Because, due to the banditry of this Lama Rubber Industries Company Limited, we have already gathered here again and again.
He also said that former administrative officers, bureaucrats, former army personnel are opening companies and trying to evict the local people. But what are law enforcement agencies doing? Instead of helping the victims of Mro and Tripura, the local administration is helping the company people directly and indirectly. SI Shamim of the local police station has also threatened the locals to move elsewhere. The administration also blocked the initiative of progressive people to establish schools there.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Chatra Sangram Parishad, Cheongyung Mro, said in a solidarity speech that the goons of rubber company are repeatedly attacking. The administration always makes promises but those promises are never implemented. The state must answer for this.
In his welcome speech, Rubel Chakma said, today we have come here out of our sense of responsibility. We are holding marches again and again. But the administration is not taking any action. Yet we will continue to protest against unjust and injustice. He demanded the proper and complete implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord signed to solve the real problems of the hills, including the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Settlement Commission as per the Accord.
Tarun Chakma, vice president of PCP, Dhaka University branch, said that Lama’s incident is not an isolated incident. It is an integral part of the long-running conspiracy in CHT. I think these incidents are happening again and again due to non-implementation of CHT Accord.
It should be noted that on January 2, 2022, at 1:00 p.m., more than 150 outsiders including rubber plantation workers and 4 truckloads of hired outsiders led by Delwar, Nuru and Mohsin, who are in charge of Lama Rubber Industries, set fire, attacked, vandalized and looted the houses of Mro villagers in Rengyen Karbari Para of Sarai Union. In this, 7 houses of Mro villagers of Rengyen Karbari Para were completely burnt down and 2 houses were demolished.
Since April 2022 till date, 11 attacks conducted and 2 conspiracy cases have been registered against indigenous people of Langkom Mro Karbari Para, Jayachandra Tripura Karbari Para and Rengyen Mro Karbari Para of Soroi Union by hired men of Lama Rubber Industries.
