Arrest of Kalpana Chakma’s abductors demanded

Several indigenous women’s organisations yesterday held a protest rally in front of the National Press Club marking 19 years of the abduction of Kalpana Chakma, an indigenous leader.

They demanded immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators.

Hill Women’s Federation (HWF), Sajek Nari Samaj, Parbatya Chattagram Nari Sangha and Ghilachhari Nari Nirjatan Protirodh Committee (GNNPC) – all backed by the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) of Chittagong Hill Tracts region – organised the rally.

Kalpana’s brother Kalindi Kumar Chakma told the rally police could have obtained information on his sister’s whereabouts if they had been impartial. He also demanded the arrest of Lieutenant Ferdous, claiming that the man knew where his sister was.

Sima Dutta of Bangladesh Nari Mukti expressed solidarity with the participants of the rally and demanded that legal action be taken against the culprits.

UPDF central member Natun Kumar Chakma, GNNPC leader Kajali Tripura and HWF leader Nirupa Chakma addressed the rally among others.

On June 12, 1996, Kalpana, then organising secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation, was kidnapped allegedly by Lt Ferdous and two Village Defence Party members Nurul Haque and Saleh Ahmed from her home in Rangamati’s Baghaichhari. The abduction came hours before the seventh parliamentary elections. Kalpana at the time had campaigned for independent candidate Bijoy Ketan Chakma, then senior presidium member of Pahari Gana Parishad.

After 14 years of investigation, Baghaichhari police submitted a final report on the abduction to court on May 21, 2010.

Earlier, a judicial inquiry commission also investigated the incident.

The Criminal Investigation Department filed a report 16 years after the abduction but the court rejected it as the report neither identified the abductors nor gave any information about Kalpana’s whereabouts.