Our Correspondent

Seven bordering villages at remote Sajek in Baghaihat of Chittagong Hill Tracts wear a desolate look after the April 20 arson attack that erased 123 houses.

A team of politicians, teachers and social workers from Dhaka visited the area on April 27 and disclosed their findings from a press conference Friday. Unidentified arsonists burnt the houses, leaving a trail of devastation.

Gangaram Mukh village suffered the most. Of the destroyed houses, 79 belonged to Bangalee settlers and 53 to indigenous people. Jahangirnagar University teacher Manosh Chowdhury read out a written statement to reporters at Dhaka Reports Unity (DRU).

Biplobi Oikya Forum leader Moshrefa Mishu and Jatiya Chhatra Front leader Shahadat Hossain and Monjurul Ahsan of Sangskritir Naya Sethu were present.

According to the statement, the affected villagers are passing "inhuman days without shelter". The Bangalee settlers were sheltered under government supervision but the indigenous community is spending their days in Buddhist temples and houses of their relatives.

Many retreated into the deep jungle, the statement said. Rights campaigners demanded formation of a judicial committee to probe the Sajek incident, publication of a report on the latest human-rights situation in the CHT and an end to land grabbing.