Romel Chakma’s death: UPDF blocks roads in Rangamati

United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) today enforced a roadblock in protest against the death of an indigenous youth, Romel Chakma.

No vehicles except a few three-wheelers were seen plying the roads since the roadblock began at 7:00am, our Rangamati correspondent reports today.

Picketers blocked roads felling tree logs at several points in order to obstruct vehicular movement.

The death of Romel, 20, who was an HSC examinee of Naniarchar College in Rangamati, sparked protests in the hill tracts as well as in Dhaka.

He was also general secretary of Pahari Chhatra Parishad's (PCP) Rangamati unit.

Additional policemen have been deployed in the district to avert any untoward incident during the roadblock, said Md Rashid, officer-in-charge (OC) of Rangamati Kowtoali Police Station.

As an HCS examination is going on there, parents were seen taking their children to examination centres in the town in the morning, the correspondent said.

Their roadblock programme is going on peacefully, Kunentu Chakma, president of Rangamati unit Parbattya Chattagram Pahari Chatro Parishad (PCP) told the correspondent.

Protesters will stage a sit-in before the office of deputy commissioner tomorrow (April 25), said a press release issued by Greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Hill Student's Council.

Student bodies of different leftist parties at Dhaka University will continue their demonstration that started yesterday.

Bangladesh Chhatra Union yesterday held a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding justice for Romel.

It remains unclear how the visually impaired youth died after army picked him up on the morning of April 5 from Naniarchar Bazar.

The circumstances of his funeral also remain shrouded in mystery, as different organisations, including PCP and several leftist student bodies continue to demonstrate in the capital and Rangamati.

The photo was taken in Manikchari area in Rangamati in morning hours on Sunday, April 23, 2017, during an ongoing roadblock enforced to protest death of an indigenous youth Photo: Anvil Chakma

Romel was picked up by the army in connection with two cases filed over torching a truck and looting two buses, Lt Col Mohammad Rashidul Hasan, director of ISPR, told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.

They handed Romel over to the Naniarchar police the same day, said the Inter Service Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) official, adding that the young man died on April 19 at Chittagong Medical College Hospital where he was being treated in police custody.

He added the allegation of torture on him by the army was false.

Source: thedailystar