Alik Mree, a young Garo leader and the North Region joint chief organiser of the National Civic Party (NCP), has resigned from the party’s central committee, accusing the party of remaining silent over the violent incidents in Khagrachhari and of spreading falsehoods about an alleged gang rape case that sparked the unrest.
In a Facebook post on Monday just after 11:15am, Alik said he had submitted his resignation by email and to the party office, citing the NCP’s “silence” over the reported rape of an indigenous teenage girl, the attacks on indigenous people, arson at homes and the killing of three members of hill communities.
He said he was protesting what he described as lies by NCP leader Abdul Hannan Masud about the rape case.
Alik — the only representative of a small ethnic community on the party’s central committee — said that the NCP’s district statement on September 26 had failed to mention the rape allegation and instead condemned attacks on law-enforcement personnel and damage to their vehicles. He said he raised the issue in the party’s group and followed up by email but received no reply by Monday morning, prompting his resignation.
Alik also referred to a recent speech by Abdul Hannan Masud in which the NCP leader accused external forces of conspiring to destabilise the hill tracts and claimed the rape allegation was fabricated to drive a wedge between Bengali and hill communities.
A video of Hannan’s remarks circulating on social media quotes him warning against perceived threats to national sovereignty.
Shortly after Alik’s resignation, Hannan posted again on Facebook repeating his view that the rape allegation was being used to create unrest and vowing to defend the country’s territorial integrity.
The unrest in Khagrachhari began after reports that a teenage girl from a hill community had been gang‑raped; subsequent protests, blockades and clashes — including incidents of arson and gunfire — left several people dead and many injured.
