NEW DELHI, 28 Sep: Bangladesh Army personnel on Sunday morning allegedly killed at least four tribal people and injured over 40 others in indiscriminate firing.
In a statement, Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), an organisation working to prevent human rights violations, alleged that the Army allowed illegal Muslim settlers to burn down tribal houses in Guimara area in Khagrachari district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The targeted tribal people mainly belong to the Marma/Mog community, it said.
“The indigenous peoples under the banner of Jumma Chatra Janata have been protesting for the last five days, demanding justice after an 8th standard indigenous Marma girl was gangraped by illegal settlers on 23 September at Singhinala village, Khargrachari. As the culprits were not arrested, the protest spread,” the statement claimed.
RRAG director Suhas Chakma claimed that “instead of arresting the rapists, the Bangladeshi Army personnel have been violating the rights of the indigenous peoples’ protestors and today resorted to the killing of the peaceful protestors by indiscriminate firing.”
The RRAG called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene against “the systematic attacks on the indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts by the Bangladesh Army under Dr Mohammad Yunus by downgrading diplomatic relations with the unelected government of Dr Yunus.”
The organisation also said that it will raise the issue of these alleged human rights violations at the ongoing 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva this week.
