The United People鈥檚 Democratic Front, a Chittagong Hill Tracts-based political organisation, on Thursday observed a dawn-to-dusk road blockade in Khagrachari district protesting against Wednesday鈥檚 killing of its three activists and demanding immediate arrest of the killers.
A case was also lodged on Thursday with the Panchari police station against 20 to 25 unnamed people in connection with the murders in Panchari upazila.
Hours after the killings, the UPDF on Wednesday blamed the UPDF-Gonotantrik for the killings and announced to enforce the blockade on Thursday.
No motorised vehicle moved on the roads in the district鈥檚 nine upazilas and no major violent incident took place during the blockade hours.
Vehicular movement in the district town was, however, almost normal as Thursday was the weekly haat day.
A few long-route buses from Dhaka and other districts entered Khagrachari town in the morning with police escort.
Tension was, however, prevailing in the district on the day.
Groups of picketers put blocked on the roads in different upazilas by falling trees and torching tree branches.
UPDF Khagrachari district organiser Ongyo Marma, in a statement on Thursday, alleged that the Bangladesh army officials, appointed during the Sheikh Hasina regime, had connections in the incidents of murders.
He demanded immediate arrest of and exemplary punishment for the people involved in the recent killings, abolishment of the UPDF-Gonotantrik, ensuring a democratic environment in the CHT, and withdrawal of the army officers involved in human rights violation incidents in the hill districts.
Tupi Chakma, wife of one of the deceased Sijon Chakma, filed a case with Panchari police station against 20 to 25 unnamed people on Thursday for shooting the three UPDF activists to death over previous enmity, said Panchari police officer-in-charge Jasim Uddin.
He said that they handed the bodies of the three deceased people over to their families Thursday afternoon after their post-mortem examination at Khagrachari sadar hospital.
