Stay away from evicting Khasis of Nahar Punjee
The government should withdraw an eviction notice which has asked Khasi people to vacate Nahar Punjee in Srimangal upazila of Moulvibazar, demanded environmentalists and rights activists yesterday.
They placed the demand while talking to reporters during their visit to the ancestral land of the ethnic minority in two villages, collectively known as Nahar Punjee.
Thiari Suting, 45, one of the Khasi people, said, “We are living in fear as we may be evicted anytime.”
Md Faruqee Mahmmud Chowdhury, president of Sushashoner Janney Nagorik, Sylhet chapter, told The Daily Star, “The move is inhumane and unacceptable.”
Abdul Karim Kim, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, Sylhet unit, said, “Nahar Tea Garden was established after the Khasi people had stared living there. There are 94 families, graveyards, schools, churches in the Punjee.”
Gourango Patro, president of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, Sylhet chapter, urged the government to immediately stop the eviction move to protect the human rights of the Khasi people.
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of the forum, echoed him.
To protect the rights of the ethnic minority, the forum with civil society members organised different programmes in different areas including the capital, where some political parties expressed solidarity with their demand.
On May 30, Moulvibazar District Administration issued the notice to some 700, mostly Khasi people, to move from the land within June 12. Following the notice, the minority community appealed to the additional divisional commissioner (revenue) in Sylhet seeking cancellation of it.
On an order from the official, the district administration submitted relevant documents regarding the notice on July 16 and the divisional commissioner will take a decision on the issue on August 2.
The authorities of the district administration accused the Khasi people of illegally occupying 150 acres of government land and running betel leaf plantations there.
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