Half-Day Blockade Called in Rangamati and Khagrachhari for Saturday
The Chhatra-Janatar Sangram Parishad has called a half-day road and waterway blockade in Rangamati and Khagrachhari districts for Saturday (24 October). The programme was announced over allegations of attacks, baton charges, and vandalism of homes and shops against road blockaders in Sajek, Rangamati.
The organisation announced the programme in a statement sent to the media on Thursday (22 October) afternoon.
The statement said the programme will protest the attack and vandalism on a peaceful road blockade called to demand the withdrawal of armed members of the JSS Santu group from Sajek. Supporting the just demands of Sajek's residents is also an aim of the programme, the statement said.
The organisation's president, Ushatan Chakma, said in the statement that the blockade will run on roads and waterways in the two districts from 5am to 12 noon on Saturday — meaning communications in both districts will effectively be shut for seven hours.
Ushatan Chakma sought the cooperation of all democratic and progressive organisations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to make the programme a success. Cooperation was also sought from vehicle owners' and workers' organisations in Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
Not every vehicle, however, will be under the blockade. Ambulances and patient-carrying vehicles, hearses, fire service vehicles, vehicles carrying emergency medicine, and vehicles carrying journalists will remain outside the blockade, the statement said.
Sajek is one of the country's most popular tourist areas. Tension has built up in the area over the road blockade there and the allegations of attack and vandalism, and it is in reaction to that situation that the two-district blockade has been called.
Even though it is a half-day programme, a blockade from Saturday morning to noon is expected to affect ordinary people's travel, goods transport and tourist movement in the two districts. With waterways included alongside roads, the impact could spread further.
In the statement, the organisation described the Sajek incident as an attack on a peaceful programme. It highlighted the allegations of vandalism of homes and shops as the main reason for the programme.
No statement from the other parties concerned about these allegations was mentioned in the release. The full picture of the Sajek incident therefore still awaits more information.
How the law-and-order situation holds in the two districts around Saturday's programme also remains to be seen. Attention will also be on whether the exempted vehicles can move without obstruction.
All told, this half-day blockade, called in protest at the Sajek incident, is expected to have a significant impact on normal life in Rangamati and Khagrachhari on Saturday.
