http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/01/07/d4010701022.htm
The Daily Star, Wed. January 07, 2004
Our Correspondent, Rangamati
The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) announced yesterday a 120-hour road-blockade programme in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) from January 19 to press home its four-point demands.
The demands include proper implementation of the 1997 CHT peace accord and cancellation of army presence under 'Operation Uttaran' and removal of all army, Ansar, APBn (Armed Police Battalion) and VDP (Village Defence Police) camps from the region.
The Samity will carry out the action in two phases; in the first phase, it will enforce a 48-hour road-blockade from January 19. If the demands are still not met it will go for the second phase -- a 72-hour road blockade from February 7 to 9, according to a press release issued from the PCJSS central office here.
The PCJSS is going to undertake a public relation campaign immediately and hold rallies at different parts of the hill districts from January 21. It will employ other methods too to build up support at home and abroad, the release says.
The PCJSS, a pro-peace pact organisation, also demands immediate removal of BNP lawmaker Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan from the chair of CHT Development Board (CHTDB) and appointment of a hills-man in his stead.
After the August 26 Mohalchhari arson and carnage last year, the PCJSS, headed by Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma alias Shantu Larma, launched a movement aimed to oust Wadud Bhuiyan from the CHTDB chair. The Samity blames him for the attack where nine women were raped, one killed, 25 injured and 400 houses burnt to ashes.
The PCJSS also had enforced similar road-blockades in the hill districts on December 2 and 8 last. Those were to voice its demands as well as to protest, what the press release says, 'the government's contribution in deteriorating law and order in the CHT and its reluctance to come forward with positive attitude to implement the peace accord.'
The government is also directly backing the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), an organisation of the hills-people that opposes the peace accord, in killing pro-PCJSS men, the release claims.
This announcement of the new PCJSS action-programme ahead of a scheduled visit
of a high-profile United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) team to the CHT
has made the local administration much concerned and worried, informs a source
in an intelligence agency.