NEWS No. 15/2007, May 20, 2007
Army personnel on 17 May, Thursday, arrested a former activist of the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) from Guimara under Khagrachari district.
Amar Chakma alias Chokkapeda of Babuchara village in Dighinala Upazilla of the district was arrested from his father-in-law’s house in Podachara village in Guimara at around 3:30 pm. He was taken to Sindukchari army camp under Guimara brigade after arrest.
His family members could not tell whether he has been produced before the court or whether any cases have been filed against him.
The army has extraordinary power to arrest any one under the state of emergency that was declared on 11 January this year.
Mr. Chakma resigned from theUPDF two years back for personal physical problems and has been leading a quiet life ever since. Before joining the Party he was kidnapped three times by the armed members of the Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) and was brutally tortured while in captivity.
In a report the daily Purbokone, a Bangla language newspaper published from Chittagong, said a group of army personnel from Sindukchari zone raided the “terrorist den of the UPDF”, recovered two SBBL, two home-made guns and three rounds of live bullets and arrested three persons, but stopped short of mentioning the names of the arrested.
However, the Samakal, a national vernacular daily, and Suprabhat Bangladesh, published from Chittagong, mentioned the name of one of them, albeit, with incorrect spelling.
In all the above-mentioned reports, except the one in Purbokone, the date of arrest has been mentioned to be Saturday, 19 May. However, Purbokone did not bother to tell us when the incident was occurred.
After inquiry, HWHRF learnt that no incidents of army raids on “UPDF dens” in Guimara area on that day or in the last few days did ever took place. The report of recovering firearms has also turned out to be false.
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