Tourists ignore fear of abduction

Visitors crowd on the hanging bridge over Kaptai Lake at Rangamati.. PHOTO: STAR

Hardly any day passes without arrival of hundreds of visitors in the three hill districts.

The local administration tightened security in three hill districts -- Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari -- from the very beginning of winter season to ensure safety of the visitors against the backdrop of a rise in incidents of abduction there.

The movement of visitors was, however, restricted, discouraging them to avoid the most vulnerable remote areas.

A senior official of CHT administration seeking anonymity said, "We have taken precautionary measures before the visitors started to stream into scenic hills.

"But we are very much worried about foreign tourists and we don't allow them to visit the vulnerable interior areas in the deep forest," he added.

"We went to see the beauty of hills and lake though we saw the reports of abduction in the newspapers. We moved only in the lake and town area. We did not dare to enter the interior area fearing trouble," Lipi Chowdhury, a housewife, said. She visited Rangamati along with her family members and relatives last week.

"We were, however, not afraid of visiting the hills and lake as there were security patrol teams," Lipi said, adding that "We saw many visitors there moving freely as none of them seemed scared."

Over 200 people including tribals and Bengali settlers were abducted in the three hill districts since signing of the peace agreement between the government and the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) on December 2 in 1997 that ended a two-decade long bush war, police and other sources said.

Most of the abducted persons were released either after paying ransoms or in the face of raids by law enforcers.

Some major incidents of abduction created panic and the people feel shaky to move freely in the rugged hills, sources said.

PCJSS Vice-President Rupayan Dewan said, "People are a bit cautious in their movement due to abduction spree, but they are not so frightened ."

"Normal life in CHT is yet to be affected seriously despite frequent incidents of abduction," Rupayan said.

In the latest incident ten tribal villagers believed to be the supporters of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) were abducted from an interior area in Rangamati on January 8, police said.

They were kidnapped from Shapmara village under Naniarchhari upazila for sheltering the activists of UPDF.

UPDF blamed the PCJSS activists for kidnapping its supporters.

PCJSS denied the charge. Police and other sources said most of the incidents occurred as a sequel to rivalry between PCJSS and anti-peace agreement group UPDF.

PCJSS activists allegedly kidnapped 20 UPDF supporters from Gargajjachhara village at Khagrachhari headquarters on December 23 last year. The village is known as the stronghold of UPDF.

The UPDF activists launched attack on villagers under Longadu upazila of Rangamati hill district on December 29 and abducted eight supporters of PCJSS.

The victims in both the incidents, however, were released later, police said.