Bhushanchhara genocide in Rangamati: No trial in 37yrs

CHATTOGRAM, MAY31: May 31 is the Bhushanchhara Genocide Day. The Bhushanchhara massacre is the largest and most horrific massacre in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. On this day in 1984, the Bengalis of Bhushanchhara area of Barkal upazila of Rangamati district were the victims of this brutal genocide.
According to villagers and security sources, an armed group of 125 people led by Shanti Bahini's military wing head Major Rajesh alias Moni Swapan Dewan surrounded the entire village late at night. In just four hours from 4 am to 8 am, they brutally killed four hundred innocent Bengalis, including women and children. Thousands of Bengalis were injured in this incident. According to local claims, the Bhushanchhara massacre was the most barbaric massacre in the history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. But due to government censorship, there were no reports of this incident in the local and foreign media at that time. The then government banned the news of the genocide, fearing that the situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts could escalate if the matter was widely publicized.
Genocide victim and familyless Nurnahar Begum said, 'there were 13 people in my family, now there is no one except my father. Everyone has been killed by the Shanti Bahini. They didn't even leave my younger brothers and sisters. Today, 37 years later, my family's killers are still out. We don't want anything now, the only demand from the government is fair justice.
At that time these people who lost their relatives wanted to file a case but the concerned police station did not take it. Even the promise of compensation to the then head of government has remained on paper.
According to the victims, the main culprit of this incident Mani Swapan Dewan alias Major Rajesh, the military leader of Shanti Bahini's Preeti Group in Sector 3 at that time. Later, he became the Deputy Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts in the BNP government.
Regarding the genocide, the UP chairman of Bhushanchhara Union M Mamunur Rashid said that Mani Swapan Dewan was not only the Bhushanchhara genocide but also one of the main culprits of the Pakuakhali tragedy. All the killings that took place under his leadership were very brutal.
The former deputy minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts of the BNP government Maniswapan Dewan dismissed it as propaganda and said, In 1984, the party split into two groups, the Preeti Group and the Santu Larma Group. I was in the North on behalf of the Preeti Group at the time. Why are they talking all this nonsense after 40 years? There was no report when I became the upazila chairman and minister, now after 40 years they are conspiring against me.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Jewel Rana said, 'More than four hundred people were killed in this brutal murder, but no case was filed at that time. There has only been one General Diary (GD). The relatives of the victims did not get compensation in the same way. If the government takes initiative in this regard, we will implement it properly.
Meanwhile, mourning meeting and mass grave Ziarat was held today in Bhushanchhara on the organized of the relatives of the victims to commemorate the genocide.