The Daily Star reports "Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain escaped unscathed when an anti-CHT peace agreement group attacked his motorcade in Kaukhali upazila on way to Rangamati yesterday morning, triggering a nationwide outcry and a daylong hartal.

The assailants, allegedly activists of pro-government Parbatya Samo Adhikar Andolan (Equal Rights Movement), attacked the vehicles with iron rods and stones near Godarpar Rubber Garden, damaging two microbuses including one in which Dr Kamal was travelling..."

Pankaj Bhattacharya of Gano Forum, Dr Mesbah Kamal, convener of the Tribal Rights Movement, Khagesh Kiron Talukder of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Akhter Sobhan Masrur of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Professor Gobinda Chakravarty of Dhaka University were accompanying Dr Kamal on the Rangamati trip. Parbatya Samo Adhikar Andolan is an anti-CHT accord organisation, allegedly supported by BNP MP Wadud Bhuiyan. If this is the case, BNP should expel him from the party because the people have voted the BNP into government in order to protect their lives and to uphold the law of the country. If Mr Bhuiyan is part of the agitation movement with the anti-CHT accord, he is basically trying to obstruct the BNP government's legal method of governance.

Mr Bhuiyan and his party, along with many other Bangladeshis, may dislike and disagree with the Awami League's CHT peace accord, however, BNP and its MPs and Ministers are bound to implement or annul the accord as part of the government. If BNP annuls the accord, it will detract from its image. No minority group within the country or foreign governments will keep faith in the state because they will likely think the state machinery may change any pledge any time. So it will be prudent for BNP not to annul the accord and I don't think BNP will do this. While I certainly believe that BNP, as a party, has every right to criticise or support the peace accord (likewise Awami League has every right to do the same), I also believe that BNP as a government party has every responsibility to implement the accord realised by the previous government. That said, if anyone from the government is proven guilty of participating in anti-accord agitation, BNP has to come forward and dismiss him or her from the party.

Now if anyone should feel discriminated against by the CHT-peace accord, he/she may take recourse through judicial process, instead of vigilante justice on the street. They can make some peaceful protest and write in the newspapers and present their views on the electronic media. Likewise those who support the peace agreement but think the government is not keeping true to the accord, they should also follow the same procedure first and foremost by going to the court and echoing their voices in the public and electronic media. If we fail to do that, we will continue to lease the country to the two rival political parties where the government will continue to play the role of the patrician, while the opposition would play the role of rhetorician and the public assume the role of the plebeians. Simply stated, in this relationship, anything but democracy can work out efficiently.

In a democratic country like Bangladesh, Dr. Kamal Hossain has the right to support the peace accord and join the meeting of Parbatya Jana Shanghati committee. No activist of anti-accord movement should enjoy any kind of rights such as to attack the motorcade of Dr. Kamal simply because he was going to participate in the pro-accord movement meeting. In a democratic institution like parliament, our Home Minister Mr. Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has given a premeditated statement describing the attack on Dr Kamal Hossain in which he blamed the "armed opposition activists accompanying Dr. Kamal" for the incident. This is a shameful, impudent and abominable suggestion on the part of a home minister who has failed to give security to journalist Manik Shaha as well as many other citizens not to mention his failure to curb mercenary gangsterism, organised extortionism and political mastani (bullyism). He should resign immediately. Mr. Altaf Hossain's remarks in parliament are neither respectful nor adherent to the legal code of conduct for a minister of the government. We have become very much accustomed to this political syndrome of "the blame game". If the home minister really knows who attacked Dr. Kamal, why is he not arresting the culprits and putting them to trial? Are the culprits so strong and powerful that Mr. Altaf Hossain needs, say, the intervention of Uncle Sam to arrest the culprits from the spider's hole?

We, as the common citizens, decry this heinous assault on a person to whom we owe our constitution and political moderation. Dr. Kamal, being a jurist and key framer of the constitution, should go on dealing the matter legally with the court while we, the general citizens, should raise our voice for his legal protection and against any disrespect shown to him. While I am against the call to hartal, I should be more than willing to encourage participation in peaceful protests or rallies. If I were in Bangladesh at this moment, I would join such a peaceful demonstration of citizens' support for Dr Kamal. However, I encourage others to raise their voices on my behalf.