Blockade Paralyses Rangamati–Khagrachhari Road: Burning Tyres and Log Barricades Leave Travellers Stranded

A half-day road and waterway blockade has been under way in the hill districts of Khagrachhari and Rangamati since Saturday dawn. Called by an organisation named Chhatra-Janatar Sangram Parishad, the programme is scheduled to run until 12 noon. Because of the blockade, traffic on the Rangamati–Khagrachhari road is completely halted.

The organisation says the programme protests attacks, baton charges and vandalism of homes and shops during the Sajek road blockade, and expresses solidarity with the demands of Sajek residents. In Khagrachhari it called the half-day road and waterway blockade from 5am to 12 noon.

No long-distance bus has left Khagrachhari because of the blockade. Blockaders have protested by burning tyres on roads at various points in the two districts. In places, tree trunks have been felled and trees cut down to obstruct roads. Ordinary and long-distance travellers are in difficulty.

Blockaders are picketing with logs and fires at Sapchhari Khamarpara and Kutukchhari Dharmaghar on the Rangamati–Khagrachhari road. A protest procession was also held from Kutukchhari Half Bazar to Dharmaghar.

Traffic on the Rangamati–Chattogram road, however, remains normal. Local sources say traffic is also normal on internal roads including Bonorupa and Kalyanpur bazar areas of Rangamati town. CNG auto-rickshaw driver Md Selim on the Rangamati–Chattogram road said many auto-rickshaws and Paharika buses left for Chattogram in the morning. Md Yusuf, assistant general secretary of the bus-minibus workers' union, also confirmed the Chattogram route is normal.

Fizirikki Chakma, a resident of the Sapchhari area, said traffic on the Rangamati–Khagrachhari road has been stopped since morning. He could not travel to Rangamati bazar for urgent work because he found no vehicle.

The blockade has not affected waterways, said Biswajit Dey, lineman of the Rangamati Launch Owners' Association; launch services on Kaptai Lake in Rangamati are normal, he said. Inspector (investigation) Md Mokhlesur Rahman of Rangamati Kotwali police station said no untoward incident had occurred anywhere so far over the blockade.

Blockaders burned tyres at Chengi Bridge and Swanirbhar areas of Khagrachhari town, at the agriculture research area on the Khagrachhari–Dighinala road and at Guimara Jorabridge on the Chattogram–Khagrachhari road. Trees were cut to block the road at Sapmara. A few auto-rickshaws were seen moving in parts of the town. Overnight buses from Dhaka reached Khagrachhari under police escort at dawn.

Khagrachhari police station officer-in-charge Md Kay Kislu said the overnight buses from Dhaka were brought into Khagrachhari under police escort. A few buses are at Ramgarh because they arrived late and have been asked to come after 12 noon. Picketers tried to create disorder by burning tyres at a few spots in town, but law enforcement personnel went to the scenes and chased them away; the situation is calm so far, he said.

Ushatan Chakma, president of Chhatra-Janatar Sangram Parishad, said they are trying their best to observe the blockade peacefully. He alleged, however, that law enforcement personnel obstructed their activists during picketing in the Betbunia area. He sought the cooperation of democratic and progressive organisations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and of transport owner and worker organisations in the two districts for the programme's success. Bijoy Kanti Chakma, member secretary of the Sajek Gana Adhikar Rakkha Committee, also said they are observing the blockade peacefully and that the programme protests attacks on blockaders.

On the Sajek situation, Sajek police station officer-in-charge Tofazzal Hossain said army and police patrols have been strengthened in Sajek. No picketing has been reported there, but no vehicles are moving either. The Khagrachhari district branch of the greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) has also expressed solidarity with the demands of Sajek residents.

The blockade was announced on Thursday afternoon in a press release signed by the organisation's organising secretary, Nirmal Chakma. Ambulances and patient-carrying vehicles, fire service vehicles, emergency medicine delivery vehicles and vehicles carrying journalists have been kept outside the blockade. Local sources say Chhatra-Janatar Sangram Parishad is mainly a UPDF-backed organisation; a UPDF member, however, has claimed the organisation is not backed by them.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the Sajek Gana Adhikar Rakkha Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association called an indefinite blockade on the Sajek tourism road with a three-point demand. This is the two organisations' third phase of blockade. One of their main demands is the removal of armed members of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) from the Sajek area. JSS information and publicity secretary Sajib Chakma has denied the allegation, saying such fabricated claims are being raised to hide long-running UPDF armed members' oppression of ordinary people in Sajek.

After the blockade announcement, the Rangamati district administration temporarily closed the Sajek tourist centre considering security risks. A public notice signed by Deputy Commissioner Nazma Ashrafi said Sajek Valley would remain closed until further notice, and tourists were instructed to leave Sajek safely by 4pm on Thursday.

Tourists began leaving Sajek from Thursday morning. On the way back they faced obstruction by blockaders in the Ujo Bazar area. When law enforcement personnel removed the blockaders, the tourist convoy moved forward; shortly afterwards, around 11am, gunfire began. Law enforcement claimed UPDF armed members fired at tourists and personnel; UPDF has denied the allegation. Amid this tension, 2,933 tourists stranded in Sajek were escorted by security forces to Khagrachhari town at around 1pm on Thursday.

The blockade has also hit the tourism sector. Tourism-related people say hotel, resort, cottage and transport bookings are being cancelled because of the programme, leaving businesspeople facing financial losses. Tourism entrepreneurs have demanded that the Sajek tourist centre be reopened. All eyes are now on how quickly traffic returns to normal after the half-day programme ends at 12 noon, and on what decision comes next regarding Sajek.