Human Rights Forum Bangladesh members on Monday called on the government to launch independent inquiry into the allegation of harassing ordinary people during the joint force鈥檚 drives against ethnic armed group Kuki-Chin National Front in Chittagong Hill Tracts.
In a statement, the HRFB also condemned and protested against the violent activities of KNF.
Seven of the HRFB experts and members 鈥� rights champions Hameeda Hossain, Sultana Kamal, Debasish Roy, Ain O Salish Kendra executive director Faruq Faisel, Manusher Jonno Foundation executive director Shaheen Anam, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust honorary executive director Sara Hossain, and Nagorik Udyog (Citizen鈥檚 Initiative) chief executive Zakir Hossain 鈥� are the signatories.
They said that apart from KNF and the people linked to them, the allegations were surfaced over mass arrest and harassment of Bawm and other community people. It read that some 111 people including four children were arrested or detained between April 7 and April 22.
The families said that only five of them were related to KNF. Thirteen Tripura and five marma including a pregnant woman were released after their detention, it added.聽
The HRFB believed that there was no alternative to holding fruitful dialogue and discussion for establishing peace.
The statement came a day after the Inter Services Public Relations said on Sunday that two KNF members, who were involved in the recent bank looting in Thanchi upazila, were killed in the remote Baklaipara of Ruma upazila in Bandarban.
This is the second such incident after the ISPR on April 22 said that another army operation left one member of the KNF killed in the remote Moonlai Para of Ruma upazila.
The latest killings came 10 days after at least one army corporal was killed and two others, including a junior commissioned officer, were severely injured in an ambush, allegedly carried out by the KNF in Bandarban on April 19.
On April 2, the KNF launched an attack to looted Tk聽1.5 crore from the vault of the state-owned Sonali Bank鈥檚 Ruma upazila branch and abducted the branch manager Nezam Uddin.
They also looted at least 14 firearms and over 400 bullets, beating the members of law enforcement agencies.
On April 3, the KNF also looted Tk 17 lakh in cash from the Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank branches in Thanchi upazila.
The abducted Sonali Bank manager was rescued on April 4 through negotiation by the Rapid Action Battalion.
The police officials in Bandarban said that a total of nine cases were filed with Ruma and Thanchi police stations, following the robberies, arms looting, and abduction on April 2 and 3.
Some 78 people were arrested in this connection, they added.
