Sajek remains cut off as blockade enters sixth day

Highlights

• Negotiations fail over removal of armed JSS members
• Protesters burn tyres at three locations along road
• Administration accepts four demands, says lawmaker
• Police intensify patrols as traffic remains suspended

Sajek in Rangamati remained largely cut off from road transport today (27 October) as protesters continued their blockade for a sixth consecutive day, with negotiations failing to resolve a key demand.

The indefinite blockade, called by the Sajek Public Rights Protection Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association, began on 22 October.

On Monday (26 October), representatives of the two organisations met senior officials from Rangamati and Khagrachhari at Ujo Bazar in Sajek from 3pm to 5:30pm. The meeting ended without a resolution after the administration accepted four of the protesters’ five demands but sought more time to address the remaining one.

Babudhan Chakma, convener of the Sajek Public Rights Protection Committee, said the protesters had given the administration five days to meet their demands, but the authorities had not accepted the proposed timeline.

“The blockade will continue until our demands are fulfilled,” he said.

The protesters resumed the blockade at 6am on Tuesday, burning tyres at Machalong 14-kilometre point, Gangaram Bazar and Hajachhara in Baghaihat, bringing traffic along the Sajek road to a halt.

The unresolved demand concerns the removal of armed members of the Santu Larma faction of the Parbatya Chattogram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) from Sajek and an end to alleged extortion, intimidation and other abuses.

The protesters are also demanding punishment for those allegedly involved in attacks on blockade participants, the transfer of the commanders of the Baghaihat and Machalong camps, withdrawal of cases against 30 named individuals and around 1,000 unidentified people, and an impartial judicial investigation.

Their demands also include compensation for businesses allegedly damaged and looted at Ujo Bazar, the withdrawal of law enforcement personnel from the area, and payment of medical expenses for people allegedly injured in beatings.

They have further demanded that their leaders and activists not be labelled terrorists, arrested or harassed, and that their homes and businesses not be searched.

Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, a Khagrachhari lawmaker and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry, said the administration had accepted four demands.

Further talks on removing armed JSS members from Sajek would be held within the next few days, he added.

Sajek Police Station Officer-in-Charge Tofazzal Hossain said the blockade remained in force and traffic was suspended along the road.

No untoward incidents had been reported, while security patrols had been intensified, he said.