Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Ruhul Amin has said the people who were involved in the attacks on adivasis in Langadu will face exemplary punishment.
“These [attacks] are heinous, and the attackers will face the music,” he said at a discussion, following a visit to the area on Monday.
Pledging rehabilitation and compensation for those affected, he said: “The government is always beside them, and necessary measures will be taken so that such incidents do not repeat.”
Meanwhile, a blockade on roads and waterways in Rangamati, called in protest of the recent murder of an elderly woman and arson attacks on several hundred Adivasi establishments in Langadu upazila, ended peacefully on Monday.
The district unit of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) enforced the seven-hour-long blockade from 5am over the atrocities committed by local Bangali settlers on Friday. The group blames the leaders of local Awami League and Jubo League for instigating the communal attacks.
The UPDF, in a press statement after the blockade, demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits linked to the incident, a judicial probe, compensation and rehabilitation for those affected and their security, and legal action against the masterminds and instigators of the incident.
At Monday's discussion, Deputy Inspector General SM Maniruzzaman of Chittagong police range said they were trying to arrest those involved in the attacks.
Also Read- Langadu attack: Half-day blockade in Rangamati
A woman named Gunamala Chakma, 75, was killed in the arson attacks, carried out by Bangali settlers who brought out a procession on Friday morning blaming the adivasis for the death of a local Jubo League activist Nurul Islam Noyon in Khagrachhari the previous day.
Many indigenous people of Tintila, Manikjora Chhara and Baitya Para had left their homes for safety and have remained missing. Local sources say the panic-stricken adivasis fear more communal attacks.
The situation turned so serious that Section 144 was imposed in the upazila.
Later on, Langadu upazila administration formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident.
On Sunday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal promised to bring the perpetrators to book, saying that they would not spare anyone involved in the attacks.
Meanwhile, the International CHT Commission on Saturday expressed regret and concerns over the attacks that ravaged around 300 houses of the indigenous people.
London-based rights group Amnesty International too has demanded a fair investigation into the attacks. Amnesty has also condemned army action on a human chain arranged by UPDF-backed student group PCP at Dighinala in Khagrachhari demanding justice for the Langadu attacks.
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