The United Indigenous Students’ Association has strongly condemned what they describe as the “mass arbitrary detention” of over 100 members of the Bawm indigenous community, including women and children, under the pretext of arresting armed militants from the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) in Bandarban.
At a protest rally held Sunday afternoon at the base of Dhaka University’s Raju Memorial Sculpture, indigenous leaders alleged security forces have been conducting widespread arrests in remote hill areas since a KNF-led bank robbery in Ruma one year ago.
“The authorities are branding innocent Bawm villagers as terrorists – arresting and killing them while we are forced to seek justice in Dhaka,” speakers asserted. “This contradicts the promise of an equitable Bangladesh.”
The gathering demanded unconditional release of all detainees and proper judicial investigation into the custodial death of Lal Peleng Bawm.
Marma Students Council president Nung Mong Pru Marma chaired the demonstration, which featured solidarity speeches by Jono Sanghati Samiti’s Dipayan Khisa, researcher Pavel Partha, and journalist Ehsan Mahmud.
Other prominent speakers included Hill Students Council’s Jagadish Chakma, Indigenous Students Struggle Council’s Ananta Tanchangya, indigenous leader Patlai Mro, Hill Women’s Federation’s Riya Chakma, Khiang Students Union’s Johnny Khiang, and Bawm Students Association’s Richard Bawm.
The protesters warned of escalating their movement unless immediate action is taken to address human rights violations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.