Published: 12:33 AM, 16 October 2026
Restoring Peace and Stability in Chittagong Hill Tracts Deserves Special Attention
Habib Al Mahmud
Sajek, known for its sea of clouds and rolling hills, presented a very different picture on the morning of Sunday, 11 October. Tree trunks were dragged across the road, tyres were set alight, and an indefinite blockade stranded tourist vehicles. Nearly three thousand tourists were in Sajek at the time. By five in the afternoon the blockade had been lifted after assurances from the administration, but from six that evening the Rangamati district administration closed the entire tourist destination and asked visitors to leave by five p.m. on 13 October. At the height of the tourist season, the closure means more than ruined holiday plans. Resort staff, jeep and Mahindra drivers, shopkeepers and homestead owners, countless Pahari and Bengali families alike, have watched their incomes collapse.
Who stands behind the blockade
It matters who called it. Formally, the blockade was called by two local organizations: the Sajek Karbari Association (karbaris are traditional village headmen) and the Sajek Gono Odhikar Rokkha Committee, or Sajek Mass Rights Protection Committee. They allege that the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS), the faction led by Santu Larma, has begun armed activity in Sajek and is threatening local people. They made three demands: that JSS members be removed from Sajek within 48 hours, that no one be threatened with death, and that the administration stop harassing innocent residents with house searches.
The JSS denies the allegation and says the two bodies called the blockade under pressure from the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF). The UPDF rejects the claim of pressure, though it has declared its support for the program. From the published reports, it is impossible to establish who is telling the truth. One thing is clear, however: the same two names keep surfacing at the centre of this impasse, the two groups whose struggle for dominance has kept the hills restive for years.
A fire that had long been smoulderingSajek did not flare up overnight. On 9 May, UPDF activist Hegera Chakma was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Shukanchhara in Sajek; on 11 May, a half-day blockade with burning barricades followed on the Sajek–Dighinala road. On 29 September, at Chailyatoli, a nine-year-old girl, Sanjita Tripura, was shot in the left hand, caught in an exchange of fire between the JSS and the UPDF. Earlier, on 6 July, three people were killed in gunfire between the two sides at Modhu Mongolpara in Panchhari, Khagrachhari.
What clearer testimony could there be that ordinary people pay the price of this fight than a child struck in the crossfire?
The figures are grim as well, though most cannot be independently verified. One report says that over the past two years there have been 113 clashes between the JSS and the UPDF across the three hill districts, leaving 35 dead and with more than 28,000 rounds fired. An investigation by Netra News found that, according to the JSS's own list, at least 96 of its leaders, activists and supporters were killed in UPDF attacks between 1998 and 2024, while the UPDF's list says at least 287 of its members were killed by the JSS between 1998 and 2026. The two lists contradict each other, and neither has been verified. Whatever the true number, this procession of corpses is a source of pride for neither side.
In Bandarban, the fear of extortion has stopped the wheels
Further south, in Bandarban, it is the fear of extortion that has halted the roads. On the morning of Thursday, 8 October, the driver of a bus travelling from Bandarban to Thanchi received a demand for money over the phone. Frightened drivers became unwilling to take their buses out, and since Friday no passenger bus has left from either end. On Saturday, jeeps and Mahindras also stopped running.
Transport owners and drivers allege that an armed group is demanding excessive extortion money. The annual sum is reported as Tk 3 lakh in some accounts and Tk 6 lakh in others. One television report, citing businesspeople, described the group as one known by the name of the JSS. No report carried a response from the accused side, so nothing can be stated with certainty.
The passengers' accounts show who is suffering. Where the bus fare is Tk 320, travellers are paying Tk 550 to 600 for a jeep. An assistant teacher who had come to sit a degree exam had to get home by sharing a hired jeep with others; a woman garment worker returning home after a year and a half waited for hours at the station. With the water level of the Sangu River falling, the road is now the only lifeline for Thanchi. That lifeline is being held hostage by the fear of the gun and the demand for extortion.
The politics of arms in the name of rightsThe UPDF was born in opposition to the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, and the JSS has long maintained that the Accord has not been fully implemented. The merits of these political claims can be debated separately. But when a struggle for rights descends into collecting money from ordinary people, blockading roads and trading fire with one another, its moral foundation weakens. Karbaris, jhum farmers, transport workers and homestead owners, the very people in whose name this politics is conducted, are the worst affected.
The state, too, bears responsibility. The blockaders in Sajek themselves allege that people's homes are being harassed in the name of searches. That allegation must be examined. If ordinary people are driven into deeper fear in the name of curbing armed groups, the crisis of trust will only deepen, and that serves no one but the armed groups themselves.
What must be done now
First, there must be lawful, targeted action against extortion and gun violence. Identifying those who demanded money over the phone and bringing them to justice is the responsibility of the administration and law enforcement. Passengers and drivers on vital routes such as Bandarban–Thanchi must be given security, and services restored quickly.
Second, victims of extortion must be able to complain without fear. Even the leaders of the bus owners' association say they will seek the administration's help. Arrangements for taking complaints and providing protection must ensure that silence born of fear is not their only option. Third, no operation should turn into harassment of innocent people. Regular dialogue with local karbaris and elected representatives would reduce suspicion and distance.
Fourth, both the JSS and the UPDF must step back from the path of the gun and return to politics. A movement for the rights of the hills will never grow stronger while fratricidal conflict continues. Ending extortion and armed activity by their followers, and pledging not to engage in conflict, is now their responsibility.
The burning tyres on the road to Sajek and the idle buses lined up at Thanchi station say the same thing: the people of the hills want peace, freedom of movement and security of livelihood. That wish cannot be mortgaged to any armed group. The administration, political leaders and regional organizations must understand that the time to restore peace in the hills is now.
Habib Al Mahmud is an MA
student in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT), Jagannath University, Dhaka. Views expressed in the article are the
writer’s personal opinions.
