Tripura Police detains 13 members of Bangladeshi outfit, to be pushed back soon

Agartala, June 4 Tripura Police detained 13 members of a Bangladesh-based organisation, including two women, and they will be pushed back to their country very soon, an official said on Wednesday.

A police official said that they were arrested after raids by the police from a rented private house at Biswas Para under Amtali Police station in west Tripura late on Tuesday night.

Senior police officials throughout the day interrogated the 13 cadres, suspected to be members of the Chakma community organisation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeast Bangladesh.

“After interrogation, the Police have handed them over to the MTF (Mobile Task Force), and the MTF handed them over to BSF. All the 13 members would be pushed back soon to Bangladesh jointly by BSF and MTF,” said an official.

Sources said that these 13 members were injured in the armed clashes with their rival group at Panchari in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh last week. With their injury, they crossed over to India for medical treatment, and on Tuesday night, the Tripura Police detained them from a rented private house.

According to preliminary reports, the group reportedly crossed the India-Bangladesh international border illegally through Raishyabari in Dhalai district following a violent encounter on the other side of the border. Most of them have bandages on their legs and hands.

The armed struggle of ‘Shanti Bahini’ in the CHT ended through the signing of a bipartite agreement between Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and the Bangladesh government on December 2, 1997.

The ‘Shanti Bahini’ had been demanding a sovereign CHT for the indigenous tribals comprising Chakma, Mog and other communities living in the hilly region.

According to reports, there have been attacks on the indigenous people in the CHT by the Bangladesh Army and illegal settlers after the fall of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, 2024.

Buddhist Chakmas mainly live in the CHT of southeast Bangladesh, the Chin and Arakan provinces of Myanmar and several states of India's northeastern region.

Indian Chakma leaders also demanded the implementation of the ‘CHT peace accord’ for the protection of the tribals in the hill region of the country.

Tripura, which has an 856 km border with Bangladesh, is surrounded on three sides by the neighbouring country, making the northeastern state very vulnerable and sensitive to cross-border migration issues.

--IANS

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