Curfew clamped for 2nd day in Khagrachhari
Tuku warns stern govt action against troublemakers

                  

Chittagong Hill Tracts, not Afghanistan: A dismayed housewife sitting on the ruins of her house in ADC hill area devastated during the ethnic violence. The picture was taken on Wednesday. Photo: Banglar Chokh

UNB, Khagrachhari

As army troops patrolled the hill-district town to calm ethnic strife, State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku Wednesday urged the indigenous community and Bengali people to live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts maintaining peaceful coexistence shunning the path of violence.
"The government is committed to maintaining a peaceful order in the region so that both the Bangalee and tribal people can live here upholding their own traditions and cultures," the minister said at an exchange-of-views meeting at the local circuit house in the afternoon.

Several days' clashes and arson attacks left at least three people dead, scores injured and many homes looted and burnt in Khagrachhari and Rangamati hill districts following a land dispute. The administration re-imposed the nighttime curfew in the municipal area of Khagrachhari on Wednesday evening to keep the rioters disengaged and maintain peace.
Terming the incidents heinous and anti-humanity the minister said any man of conscience can't accept such acts of violence.
Tuku alleged that a certain quarter is trying to fish in the troubled waters creating unrest between Bangalee and tribal people and destabilizing the CHT region, where a relative calm had prevailed since the 1997 peace accord between government and tribal insurgents. Suggesting people to be aware of the evil quarter, the minister sought cooperation from the inhabitants of the region in building CHT as an abode of peace foiling all conspiracies.
He also asked the law-enforcing agencies to maintain law and order in the region "at any cost". The state minister also said stern action would be taken against those who will be found involved in the recent violent incidents.
Earlier, the minister visited the violence-stricken Maha-janpara, Rupalipara and Schoolpara under the Sadar upazila and assured the affected people of providing relief goods and cash from government fund.
Meanwhile, normalcy started to get back in the district after a spell of violence between the indigenous and Bangalee communities that erupted when activists of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and Parbatya Chattagram Bangali Chhatra Parishad staged demonstrations Tuesday in the town over the Baghaichhari incidents.
District administration sources said the situation in the troubled areas is getting back to normal as most of the victims who had fled homes started returning to their areas.
Army troops, BDR jawans, RAB and police personnel were seen patrolling the town and trouble-torn areas today to maintain law and order and stave off further flare-ups.