‘I will spray bullets like rain’ – says an army officer

I will spray bullets like rain’ – says an army officer HR Monitoring Cell, UPDF, 1 June 2006

An army officer in Khagrachari threatened to rain down bullets from his automatic weapon after a Jumma fish vendor demanded a fare price. On 28 May at around 7:30 a.m. Subedar Rahim and his soldiers from Dewan Para Army camp in Bhaibone Chara went to the road side shops in Shib Mondir area. People from nearby villages regularly sell variety of articles here – ranging from vegetable and forest produces to fish and meat, making it a virtual market place. The army commander took some Kgs of fish from Binimoy Chakma (45) s/o Nabin Mohan Chakma and wanted to go away without paying. Mr. Chakma protested and the army man paid only Taka 70 for each kg, which is half the actual price. Mr. Chakma implored him to pay in full. But the commander refused and threatened to kill him. ‘I know lots of extortion take place here and I have got secret information that you are also involved in such criminal activities. So do not irritate me. I will spray bullets like rain’ warned the army Subedar. The thing everyone holds dear is his or her own life. Binimoy Chakma at once realized that his life was more precious than the price of the fish. So he kept quite and let the commander go away. In fact, he had no other option than to do this. The military is all in all in CHT and they can do and undo everything. CHT NEWS NO. 102. Prepared by Human Rights Monitoring Cell, United Peoples’ Democratic Front (UPDF). 1 June 2006. Website: www.updfcht.org

Army raid house at Shib Mondir, Khagrachari HR Monitoring Cell, UPDF, 1 June 2006

On the night of 29 May, a group of army men from Giriphul Army camp raided a house at Rubber Plantation No. 5 in Shib Mondir, about 12 kilometers from Khagrachari district town in Northern Chittagong Hill Tracts. The soldiers searched the house of Goladhan Chakma and found a copy each of the Hill Students Council’s constitution, PCP publication Ami Bidrohi (I am a rebel) and a Chakma language newspaper the Abhangpang, which is published irregularly by some Jumma students in Dhaka. The army officer who led the operation asked who read those literatures and when Goladhan Chakma’s son Mano Ranjan Chakma (28) said he read them, the army commander advised him not to read such things. “Why read these things? It is the terrorists who read such kind of publications. You will face difficulties if you continue to read them”, warned the army men. He also tried to take him and his two other friends, Dabo Jyoti Chakma s/o Krishna Chakma and Ereng Chakma s/o Birendra Chakma who were sleeping in his house, away to the camp. But the other members of the house resisted and the commander finally asked them to appear in the camp the next morning. The three of them went to the Giriphul Army camp the following morning and met with the commander. CHT NEWS NO. 101. Prepared by Human Rights Monitoring Cell, United Peoples’ Democratic Front (UPDF). 1 June 2006. Website: www.updfcht.or