Hill Voice, 2 June 2023: Jum houses of at least 7 Jummas have been allegedly burnt and looted by the Bengali settlers in Laifu Karbari Para area of No.2 Ward of Tabalchari Union of Matiranga Upazila of Khagrachari.

This incident happened yesterday Thursday (June 1, 2023) at 7 pm.

The victims are Chandra Shishi Tripura (60), son of late Hankar Tripura, Vijay Tripura (28), son of Trinayan Tripura, Bipin Tripura (29), son of Barba Shankar Tripura, Gyana Jyoti Tripura (52), son of Bajendra Tripura, Rahim Tripura (42), son of Ramini Kumar Tripura, Daha Tripura (44), son of Hera Kumar Tripura, and Dhana Bhushan Tripura (46), son of Chandra Hari Tripura. They are all villagers of Laifu Karbari Para.

It is known through eyewitnesses that at 7 pm yesterday, 10/12 Bengali settlers being organized set fire to and looted the houses of the said 7 Jummas in Laifu Karbari Para. It was led by Md. Azizul (50), son of Late Amir Uddin, Village- Hajipara.

A jum farmer who witnessed this incident said, yesterday, like every day, when we were resting our tired bodies after the whole day’s jum work, 10-20 Bengali settlers came towards our jum houses making noises and saying loudly ‘catch, catch’. Then I was compelled to hide in the nearby forest to save my life. From there I saw that they set fire to seven jum houses one by one. They looted away various fruits, vegetables and rice seeds kept in the jum houses.

Another eyewitness Kittadhan Tripura said, the location of the burnt jum houses is on the way back from our jum houses. When two of us (Kittadhan and Jyoti Mala Tripura) were returning home from Jum work, the Bengalis settlers saw us and chased us, yelling ‘Dhar Dhar (catch catch)’ and we somehow managed to escape from there to east direction (towards Keya Para).