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BGB Office in Khagrachhari

21 evicted indigenous families still living in school

Staff Correspondent
Twenty one indigenous families of Khagrachhari who became homeless through the establishment of the headquarters of a BGB battalion two months ago are still living in two rooms of a local school, a life the victims called "worse than inhumane".
The families were evicted from their homes when Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel fenced off their villages--Shashi Mohon Karbari Para and Jatna Mohon Karbari Para of Dighinala upazila-on June 10 and restricted the villagers' entry into the area. The government is yet to rehabilitate the people.
More than 80 members of the fami-
lies, mostly women, children, and the elderly, have been huddling in the two classrooms of Babuchhara High School since then.
"The way we are living is worse than what is called inhumane," Gopa Rani Chakma, one of the affected, told a press conference at Jatiya Press Club in
the capital yesterday, organised by the victim families and Dighinala Bhumi Rakkha Committee.
A clash between the villagers and BGB broke out when several indigenous women, including Gopa, attempted to go to their homes inside the fenced off area on June 10.
Addressing the conference, the villagers demanded that the government back away from its decision to establish the BGB office and return their homes.
Shudarshana Chakma, a villager, said many evicted families had fled to Tripura to escape violence in the hill tracts in mid-1980s. Many returned to the area after signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997, but could not manage to build a home there until recently, she said.
The BGB battalion headquarters is being built on 29.81 acres of land where the decades-old Baghaichhari Government Primary School (No 2) is located.
As the entire area is fenced off with barbed wire now, the school has become inaccessible for students, many of whom are from the evicted families, said Shudarshana.
The members of the parliamentary caucus on indigenous peoples visited the area on July 14. Asked for comments, Fazle Hossain Badsha, the caucus convener, said he asked the local administration and government representatives to "find a peaceful and humane solution" to the crisis.
Md Masud Karim, the deputy commissioner of Khagrachhari, however, said, "We tried to rehabilitate them elsewhere but they refused and wanted that same land back... They are not willing to cooperate in negotiations."