STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Several rights, cultural, and political groups yesterday called for urgent investigations into the violence and reported deaths in Khagrachhari, demanding immediate action to ensure justice for the victims.

Expressing outrage over the Khagrachhari incidents, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) questioned what crime lies in the indigenous communities’ legitimate demand for justice following yet another brutal assault on a young girl.

“The administration must answer this fundamental question,” it added.

The organisation called for a comprehensive judicial investigation into the incident and exemplary punishment for the rapists.

At least three people were shot dead yesterday in the district’s Guimara upazila during protests over the rape of a schoolgirl.

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said, “Attempts to normalise the rape of indigenous women are not new. Why could the local administration and police under army authority not adopt timely and effective strategies to prevent this violence? Is this indifference or complicity towards the destructive conspiracies of vested interests, through which the systematic deprivation of indigenous rights and ethnic suppression is being normalised?”

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