Cover Story
THE WRATH OF THE MAJORITY
On August 3, life in Taindong, a remote hamlet in Khagrachhari, became a nightmare that would not end. Thirty-five houses were burnt to the crowd, leaving the residents homeless and terrified by this unprovoked act of hatred and racism. According to the victims several members of their community were brutally beaten up by the arsonists - all of them from neighbouring areas, all of them Bangali. Was it just because they were of different communities or was it the land that needed to be grabbed at all cost? the Star talks to the locals of this far away place snuggled deep in the forests of Khagrachhari to unravel the age-old conflict between Bengali settlers who are an overwhelming majority and the small communities of indigenous people.
Ananta Yusuf
Taindong and its neighboring three affected unions, which are 70 kilometers away from Khagrachori Sadar can be described in many ways. It is a border area where three unions, home to 38,000 Bengali and a meagre eight thousand indigenous people.…