chtnews.com
News No. 81/2010, April 04, 2010
The Jumma Peoples Network-Korea, an organisation of the expatriate and exiled Jummas in South Korea, has decided not to celebrate Boisabi festival, says an e-release.
The decision was made after considering the grave conditions the Jumma victims of the February settler attacks are facing in Sajek and Khagrachari, it said.
“Instead, the JPNK will hold a peace gathering on Hongik University campus in Seoul on April 11 and organise a rally, a talk show and other programmes to create public awareness about the human rights situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.” Ronel Chakma, Coordinator of JPNK stated in the e-release.
In Khagrachari, a Boisabi Celebration Committee, headed by Modhu Mongal Chakma, ex-professor of Khagrachari Government College, has decided to discard all festivities.
It was followed by a similar declaration by leaders of fifteen socio-cultural organisations who said “When thousands of people are starving in the jungles and in the open sky, when the cry of the victims is still heard, to participate in the celebration of the Boisabi is to forget the real spirit of Boisabi –unity, solidarity and fraternity.”
Five other Jumma organisatons, associated with UPDF, also called for a general boycott of Boisabi to show solidarity with the victims.
In the face of severe criticism, the Boisabi Celebration Committee in Rangamati has decided to discard festivities and bring out a protest rally on the day of Phool Bizu wearing black badges. It has also decided to cancel all together or scale down many other programmes it had earlier decided to organise.
The UNDP is said to be providing a huge amount of money to these committees in Rangamati and Khagrachari for the celebration of Boisabi festival.
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