Meghalaya, September 30: The Northeast Indigenous People’s Association (NIEPA), India has issued a strong condemnation of the recent violence in Khagrachari, Bangladesh, where alleged firing by Bangladesh Army personnel left four indigenous people dead and more than 40 injured.
The violence reportedly erupted after the gang rape of an indigenous Marma girl, a student of Class VIII, by illegal settlers in Singhinala village on September 23. When members of the Jumma Chatra Janata staged protests demanding justice for the victim, tensions escalated and the army allegedly opened fire on the demonstrators.
In a press statement, Shri Bostone M Sangma, General Secretary of NIEPA, expressed deep concern over the repeated targeting of indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), an area long marred by ethnic conflict and land disputes.
He urged the Bangladesh government to take immediate measures to protect indigenous peoples, ensure the implementation of the CHT Accord of 1997, and initiate a transparent investigation into the involvement of security forces in the violence.
NIEPA further demanded the demilitarization of the CHT region to guarantee the safety and rights of indigenous peoples living there.
