Demanding Land Commission for Plain Land Ethnic Minorities
Govt's nonchalant attitude worsening land problems
Rights advocates tell Jatiya Adivasi Parishad, Kapaeeng Foundation press confce, demand more budgetary allocation for the communities
The government's nonchalant attitude towards forming a land commission is intensifying problems being faced by ethnic minority communities living in plain lands and increasing violence, said rights advocates yesterday.
Steps are yet to be taken following the government's pledge during the national elections of 2008 and 2014 to form the commission, said Jatiya Adivasi Parishad General Secretary Rabindranath Soren as per a press release.
He was addressing a press conference the parishad and Kapaeeng Foundation organised to “protest ongoing torture on the communities and grabbing of land and demanding increasing budgetary allocation for the communities” in the capital's Dhaka Reporters Unity.
Rabindranath Soren demanded that 1842.3 acres of land in Gaibandha's Gobindaganj upazila be returned to the communities. He alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to drive out 15,000 people of the communities by declaring the Modhupur forest a reserved one.
Eminent columnist Syed Abul Maksud demanded allocating Tk 400 crore in the 2016-17 budget, saying the present Tk 20 crore did little to serve their purpose.
Lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha said Bangladesh was following the way Pakistan was leading repression and torture on its ethnic minority communities.
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said it was disappointing that the administration has so far not taken any action against perpetrators who tortured people and raped women of the communities and grabbed their lands.