Sajek Road Blockade Enters Eighth Day: Logs Set Ablaze, Traffic Halted

The indefinite blockade on the road to the Sajek Valley tourist centre in Baghaichhari upazila of Rangamati has entered its eighth day. On Thursday morning (29 October), blockaders felled tree logs at several points on the Sajek road and set them on fire, bringing all vehicle movement on the road to a halt.

The Sajek Gana Adhikar Rakkha Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association have been observing the programme in its third phase since 22 October to press five demands. Their central demand is the withdrawal of armed members of the Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS-Santu Larma) from the Sajek area.

Last Monday, leaders of the protesting organisations met representatives of the administration at Ujobazar in Sajek union from 3 pm to 5:45 pm. Khagrachhari MP Wadud Bhuiyan, who chairs the parliamentary standing committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs, said agreement had been reached on four of the five demands. But with no final decision on the main demand, the path to lifting the blockade did not open.

On Monday night, in a live broadcast on the Sajek Gana Adhikar Rakkha Committee's Facebook page, its convener Babudhon Chakma said the government could not give a specific assurance on implementing their main demand. He said the government first sought a month to meet the demand while the protesters were willing to allow three days; when the government then asked for time until 5 November, they agreed to wait five more days.

Babudhon Chakma said the blockade would continue because no firm assurance had been received. He added, however, that the protesters remained ready if the government wished to sit for talks again.

The five demands include punishment of those involved in the attack during the blockade on 22 October and a neutral judicial inquiry; compensation for traders harmed at Ujobazar and withdrawal of army and police personnel from there; the government bearing treatment costs of those injured in the attack; removal of the JSS-Santu Larma group's armed members from Sajek and measures to stop extortion and oppression; and an end to arrests, harassment and searches of protesters' homes and businesses.

The movement began on 11 October, when the Sajek Gana Adhikar Rakkha Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association launched protests demanding the withdrawal of JSS armed members from the Sajek area, security for local residents and implementation of the administration's earlier assurances.

The movement was suspended from 16 to 21 October for the Durga Puja festival. The two organisations then called the indefinite road blockade again from 22 October.

On the first day of the blockade, last Thursday (22 October), tension, clashes and gunfire broke out on the Sajek tourist road. That day, 2,933 tourists were stranded in Sajek Valley because of the blockade.

In the morning, the Bangladesh Army and police escorted a convoy of tourist vehicles from Sajek towards Khagrachhari. At around 10:30 am, when the convoy reached the Ujobazar area of Sajek, protesters and picketers blocked the road with barricades and burning tyres. Despite long discussions, the blockaders refused to clear the way, creating tension.

With the blockade continuing into its eighth day, tourism and local travel in Sajek Valley remain disrupted. Although Monday's meeting produced agreement on four demands, no announcement of a withdrawal of the programme has come because the main demand remains undecided.