Sajek Valley tourism suspended until further notice amid tensions

The Rangamati district administration on Sunday evening announced that the Sajek Valley tourist spot would remain closed to tourists until further notice.

Tourism at the Sajek Valley would remain suspended from 6pm on Sunday, and existing tourists have been requested to return to their respective destinations by 5pm Tuesday, read a notification signed by Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Nazma Ashrafi.

The notification did not specify the reason for the abrupt tourism suspension, but came amid heightening tensions in the valley among different ethnic minority groups.

UPDF-PCJSS tensions

Tensions between the “Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS)” and two groups linked to the “United People's Democratic Front (UPDF)” have been brewing in the Sajek union of Baghaichhari upazila, Rangamati since September.

The two groups linked to UPDF, Sajek Karbari Association and the Sajek Gono Odhikar Rokkha Committee, have alleged that PCJSS has increased its terrorist activities near Sajek Valley over the past two weeks and has been issuing direct threats to life to ethnic people in the region.

They have demanded the swift removal of the “PCJSS terrorists” from the Sajek Valley, and legal measures against those involved.

The two groups have also raised objections to what they said arbitrary house searches by law enforcers, and have demanded an end to these.

At 6am Sunday, they enforced an indefinite blockade on the Khagrachhari-Sajek road by felling trees and burning tyres. Around 1,500 tourists got stranded in the blockade.

After 11 hours, they agreed to lift the blockade for two days when authorities assured them of meeting their four demands, said Sajek Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Tofazzal Hossain.

The lifting of blockade allowed the stranded tourists to safely leave for their respective destinations.

The four demands by the agitators involve a resolution over the “terrorist activities” of PCJSS and an end to arbitrary house searches by law enforcers.

To back up the demands, they also cited a shooting attack by PCJSS that left an eight-year-old ethnic minority girl injured at Chaillatali area of Sajek Valley on 29 September.

Earlier, on Thursday, the two groups gave the authorities 48 hours to meet their demands. As the demands remained unfulfilled on Saturday, they announced an indefinite road blockade starting next morning.