Home boss says conspiracies on for hill regions

Many conspiracies are at work in the  country's three hill districts under Chittagong Division, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan three days after four people, including an army officer, were killed in a shootout with a hill group in Bandarban’s Ruma upazila.

He was talking to journalists during a security inspection of Dhaka’s Rajdhani High School ahead of Saraswati Puja on saturday, according to bdnews.

The Chattogram Hill Tracts Jana Sanghati Samiti, or JSS, led by Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, aka Shantu Larma, was blamed for the violence but have denied their involvement.

“I believe there are many kinds of conspiracies at play,” the minister said. “We will soon send police teams to the three districts (Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban) where the army has set up camps to maintain peace and order.”

The home minister also spoke on the foreign ‘lobbyist appointment controversy’.

“We are working to find the method through which the lobbyist sent money abroad. Those involved in sending the money are part of the conspiracy and will be revealed to the public soon.”

Security forces are not involved in forced disappearances, the home minister said in response to a question from a journalist.

“Nobody is taken into custody in such a manner in Bangladesh, but some people occasionally go into hiding and later return,” he said.

Army raid at Khagrachhari UPDF den

Army personnel conducted a drive in a den of United People Democratic Front (UPDF) and demolished its four barracks, two duty posts and a training centre at Jarulchhari in Khagrachhari early Saturday, reports UNB.

Tipped off, some army members of Dighinala zone conducted the drive at 5am.

They destroyed four barracks, two duty posts and a training centre, said Md Zahid Hasan, staff officer of Khagrachhari region of Bangladesh Army.

The UPDF members established a temporary base for training and were harassing locals extorting money and committing other crimes, he said.

Bullets were exchanged between the UPDF men and army men during the drive, he claimed.

Army personnel recovered their training materials and documents from the camp, said the army officer.