Recently, Saiful Abedin, GOC of the 24th Infantry Unit of the Bangladesh Army, has openly threatened the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He also demanded the abolition of the quota system for the indigenous Jumma people. At the same time, he challenged the freedom-demanding indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to be eliminated within half an hour.
The Silenced Voice of CHT, a Twitter handle representing the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, wrote in a tweet, “Bangladesh army GOC of 24th Infantry Division openly threatened hill peoples like a street gangster during a public meeting yesterday. He demanded quota system to stop for the indigenous Jummas. He also challenged armed group to fight & threatened to wipe them out in half an hour.”
In a response to this issue, The Silenced Voice of CHT also wrote in another tweet, “Bangladesh army still think that they are living in ’80s when countless indigenous people had been mercilessly killed by them in CHT just because they looked different, eat different food & practice different religion.”
On the other hand, local Jummas today staged a sit-in protest in the Panchhari area of Khagrachhari district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts against the forcible occupation of ancestral land of indigenous Jumma people. At that time, a patrol team of the Bangladesh Army came to the spot and tried to stop them from protesting. As a result, a heated situation was created there. The local Jummas became alert to resist with their bare hands in front of the guns of the Bangladesh Army. After the announcement of GOC Saiful Abedin, the situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts has become very heated. Native tribals of Chittagong Hill Tracts are naturally angry.
