chtnews.com
News No. 62/2011, April 1, 2011
THE police and local administration have prevented the Democratic Youth Forum from holding its 3rd central council at Muslim Hall in Chittagong today.
DYF leaders said they had taken permission for the conference about two and a half months ago and yet, at the last hour the police and the Hall authorities refused to allow the conference to be convened.
Mithun Chakma, a DYF leader, termed the behaviour of the government as undemocratic and fascist, and vowed to continue the struggle for full autonomy.
“The open conspiracy of the government to suppress the UPDF and its front organisations will fail” he said and added that the government was trying to push the CHT situation to anarchy so that it could fish in the trouble waters.
Later, the DYF canceled the opening ceremony of the conference and met in a brief council session at a community centre in which 1,000 delegates, members, observers and well wishers were present.
A 19-member new central committee with Natun Kumar Chakma as its president, Mikel Chakma, now in Chittagong jail, as general secretary and Ziko Marma as organisational secretary was elected unanimously at this council session.
Over 2,100 delegates, observers and well wishers from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong were expected to be present at the opening ceremony. Of them, 1,000 had already reached Chittagong by last night.
The rest set out in the morning and some of them reached Chittagong.
However, as the programme was canceled the organisers asked them to go back.
In a leaflet issued on the occasion the DYF said “The army and the settlers continue to be the greatest threat to the survival of the Jumma people in the CHT. The successive governments have used them as tools of national repression against the Jumma people.”
Criticizing the role of the members of parliament elected from the CHT, the leaflet said “they are as silent as dead men”.
“Not a single word of protest comes out of their mouths. Whether inside the parliament or outside it, they do not say any single word in favour of the Jumma people. They did not even issue a statement condemning the attacks in Sajek, Khagrachari and Longudu.”
It also blasted the Santu group for keeping the fratricidal conflict alive.
“Even after UPDF had offered to support the implementation of the CHT accord, the Santu group still continues its attacks on UPDF.” it said.
It added: “Santu Larma is now like a setting sun; he will soon sink into the abyss of darkest oblivion.”
The DYF leaflet has called upon all the progressive Jumma youths to rally behind those who are truly and earnestly fighting for the rights of the Jumma people.
“When truth and falsehood, just and unjust, and good and bad are involved in any issue, there cannot be a middle path” it said.
“If those who cherish Jumma unity get united themselves and firmly engage in the fight, then the fratricidal conflict is bound to come to an end.” it added.
It also put forward a seven-point demand which included, among others, declaration of the CHT as a special autonomous area, withdrawal of the army from CHT, rehabilitation of the settlers outside of the CHT, recognition of the Jumma nationalities in the constitution and restoration of traditional land ownership of the Jumma people.
The leaflet called upon all to play an active role against all such activities of the Santu group as are harmful to the national interest, to not join BNP or AL which are engaged in the implementation of a blueprint to wipe the Jumma people out of the CHT, to launch a social movement against gambling, to resist divide and rule policy of the government and to fight against both chauvinism and narrow nationalism among the Jumma nationalities.
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