News from the hills is alarming, to say the least. A clash between the in`igenous people of three villages under Mohalchhari Thana, Khagrachhari and Bangalee settlers there have left at least 50 people injured. In the incident two young girls of the indigenous community fell victim to rape and a few people, including children, were missing till Friday last. The atmosphere is charged with so much mistrust and hatred that about 1,500 people of the three villages who fled during and after the clash dare not return home. The army and police stationed there claim they are trying to restore order and peace but the hill people are not convinced enough.
Newspaper reports are categorical that the Bangalee settlers were aggressors and the indigenous people were at the receiving end. But to say that the settlers turned aggressors on their own is a misstatement. In fact, they were incited by the local Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leadership with indirect support from the local administration. The motive is to grab land owned by the indigenous people. The source of the clash was such a land-grabbing attempt and construct a house on hill people’s homestead in Maichchhari village. The main partner of the coalition government, BNP is exposing its fascist character almost everywhere. Kansat is a witness to this. Its hatred for and hostility towards the minority and indigenous people—apart from the main Opposition Awami League—is an established fact. After the 2001 parliamentary election, all hell was let loose with the BNP cadres indulging in a spree of violence, rape and looting.
The old wound of Bangalee-hill people conflict is opening once again. Because the BNP leadership is not sensitive enough to the hill people’s psychology of a subordinate nature, it is instigating the uneasy relations, instead of healing the wound. Time the leadership came to realize the implication of this localised conflict getting out of hand and spreading beyond the confine of the three villages. Leaders of the hill people have been sounding alarm bells for quite sometime. But there is no one in the government to take the warning seriously. This latest aggression on the hill people bodes ill for the peace that was salvaged from scratches by the Awami League government. The BNP may remain true to its fascist character only to the peril of the entire country. It is easy to sour relations between two communities, the challenge is to establish sustainable peace.
That the government does not care much for peace in the hills is clear from the fact that not one minister or top BNP leader has taken note of the situation. It was in the fitness of things for a minister to rush to Khagrachhari and pay a visit to the three villages. It would have helped to return normalcy in the area. The indigenous people could gather enough courage to return home. How step-brotherly the administration’s treatment is can be gauged from one single fact. Of the 30 Bangalees and six indigenous people arrested in connection with the Monday’s ugly incident, 24 Bangalees have been released on bail but none of the six hill people were released. Even the two rape victims’ medical test was carried allegedly after 48 hours. There is a concerted effort to protect the aggressors. This is condemnable. The main partner of the ruling party must mend its fascist way or else it will end up inviting trouble for itself and the country.
Source: http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/new/2006/04/09/editorial.htm