http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/10/19/d41019012320.htm
The Daily Star, Vol. 5 Num 147
Tue. October 19, 2004
Our Correspondent, Bandarban
The government starts reducing police forces from the Chittagong Hill
Tracts (CHT) from today for redeployment in other districts and
metropolitan areas.
In the first phase, a total of 900 police members will be withdrawn
closing 25 police outposts -- nine from Bandarban, six from Khagrachhari
and 10 from Rangamati. An additional 1800 members of the police force
will be reduced by phases from the CHT, highly placed sources of the
government said.
The sources also said that the measures are being taken following the
directives of the Armed Forces Division of the Prime Minister's office.
The police sources said general officer commanding (GOC) of Chittagong
region has been supervising the withdrawal. They will be placed under
the newly formed elite forces including Rapid Action Battalion (Rab),
Cheetah and Kobra.
Ma Ma Ching, chairman of the Bandarban district council, said that the
government did not inform her anything of the withdrawal.
In the 1980s, considering emergency in the CHT, all the members of Armed
Police Battalion (APBn), Ansar, VDP and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) working
in the region were brought under the army command.