Interim govt condemns arson attack on homes of Tripura community in Lama

Bangladesh’s interim government has strongly condemned the arson attack on the homes of the Tripura community in Lama upazila in Bandarban.

The government also ordered local administration to provide assistance for the reconstruction of the torched houses.

‘We strongly condemned the arson attack on the homes of the Tripura community in Lama upazila in Bandarban,’ said chief adviser’s press wing in a statement on Wednesday night.

A case has been filed with the local police station over the incident, said the statement, adding that the police have also carried out raids to arrest the culprits.

Quoting Bandarban police, the press wing said the police visited the spot while the Deputy Commissioner (district administration chief) and the police chief of the Bandarban Hill District will visit the village on Thursday morning.

The police have also stepped up security measures there, said the press wing in the statement.

Earlier, seventeen houses of the Christian Tripura community at Sarai union at Lama in Bandarban were torched by unidentified miscreants early Wednesday.

Lama Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ruppayan Deb told New Age that miscreants set fire to makeshift houses in the remote Purba Betchhara Para of Saroai union while the villagers were attending prayers and celebrating Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, in a nearby church.

‘Seventeen houses out of 19 of the Tripura community were completely gutted in the flame,’ he said

According to Police headquarters information, the Christian Tripura community people had been living in the area for generations.

But they were forcibly evicted a few years ago when some people claimed that the area had been leased out to the wife of former inspector general of police Benizir Ahmed during the Awami League regime.

However, after the fall of AL government amid a student-people mass uprising on August 5, they came back to the place where they built new houses and started living there again.

But on early Wednesday, miscreants set fire to 16 makeshift houses while the villagers went to a nearby church to attend prayers and celebrate Christmas, said police headquarters.