June 12, 2025, marked the 29th anniversary of the disappearance of Kalpana Chakma, the then-organizing secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation. In her memory, the Federation arranged a protest event in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Three activists from Dhaka, Marzia Prova, Nuzia Hasin Rasha (currently President of the Dhaka University Chapter of the Revolutionary Student Unity), and Oliur Sun (a faculty member at ULAB), attended the event in solidarity.
On their way back, the three were harassed and obstructed by two local goons, Mohammad Nayeem Hossain Himel and Mohammad Imran Hossain. According to Marzia Prova, the two men stopped them using motorcycles, aggressively interrogated them about their whereabouts, and appeared to confirm their identities via phone calls, strongly suggesting a premeditated attack. Oliur Sun was physically assaulted, and the group was threatened with being handed over to the local military camp. The assailants have since been identified as leaders of the local Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. As per the activists, police refused to cooperate or offer protection.
This is not an isolated incident. Earlier this year, Indigenous activist Rupaiya Shreshta Tanchangya was violently attacked by members of the group “Students for Sovereignty.” That incident, too, remains unresolved.
Freedom of speech and association are guaranteed constitutional rights. Yet, repeated attacks on Indigenous and allied activists raise critical questions: Who controls public space in the Chittagong Hill Tracts? Who authorizes this culture of impunity? And to whom does the CHT truly belong?
Bangladesh Feminist Archives condemns these shameless attacks on citizens’ basic rights. We demand immediate accountability for those who assaulted Marzia Prova, Nuzia Hasin Rasha, and Oliur Sun, as well as justice for the assault on Rupaiya Shreshta Tanchangya.
Bangladesh Feminist Archives 