National minority rights activists on Friday demanded justice for the killing of four people murdered during a sectarian violence in Khagrachari and Rangamati in September 19–20 last year.
The demand was raised at a protest rally following a march in the evening on the day under the banner ‘Sammilito Pahari Chhatra-Janata’ (united platform of hill students and people) held at Raju Sculpture in the capital.
They later held a candlelight vigil remembering the four victims.
They also demanded exemplary punishment for those involved in the attacks and killings and adequate compensation for the affected families.
The protesters alleged that Junan, Rubel and Dhananjoy were killed in firing by law enforcers, while Anik was killed by the ‘Bengali settlers’.
Protests and commemoration meetings were also held in Khagrachari and Rangamati on the day.
Anik Chakma, 20, died in Rangamati on September 20, and Junan Chakma 20, and Rubel Tripura, 30, in Khagrachari town, and Dhananjoy Chakma, 60, was killed in Dighinala upazila of Khagrachari on September 19.
In Rangamati, three fronts backed by the United People’s Democratic Front—Pahari Chhatra Parishad, Gonotantrik Juba Forum and Hill Women’s Federation—held a protest rally in Kutukchori area on the day.
In Khagrachari, families of the victims of killing and attacks held a meeting on the day in Khagrachari town, commemorating the four deceased.
At the meeting, Nironta Devi Tripura and Rupsha Chakma, the mothers of Rubel Tripura and Junan Chakma respectively, denounced the authorities saying that justice was not delivered although one year had passed after their killing.
In September 19–20 in 2024, the four men were killed and scores were injured as a wave of sectarian violence swept the restive hill districts of Khagrachhari and Rangamati, sending hundreds of ethnic families on the run to save their life, leaving behind their houses and businesses going up in flames.
The violence was stoked by the discovery of the body of a Bengali, Mohammad Mamun, on September 18.
Newspapers reported that Mamun, who stood accused in several criminal cases, was lynched by a mob.
The September 19 attack on ethnic minorities in Khagrachhari’s Dighinala was launched from a protest procession brought over Mamun’s death by several thousand Bengalis, accusing national minorities for the killing.
The sectarian violence spilled over to Rangamati the next day on September 20.
