Protect ethnic minorities from land grabbers

The ethnic minority people formed a human chain near Shaheed Minar in Parbatipur upazila town under the district yesterday, urging the government to take initiative to stop torture and repression on them.

Several hundred men, women and children joined the hour-long human chain organised by the local unit of Jatiya Advasi Parishad at 1:00pm.

Their longstanding demand for constitutional rights has remained unmet while torture, eviction from their land, and harassment by filing false cases against them see rise in the upazila, said the speakers at the programme.

They demanded that the government form a separate land commission for this ethnic minority peoples living in the plain land areas to ensure their land right.

Heinous crimes like murder, rape, and harassing the ethnic minority people by filing false cases are often related with land problems, said Romesh Hasda, president of Jatiya Advasi Parishad's Parbatipur upazila unit.

The speakers alleged biased role of police against the indigenous people regarding litigations.

"The indigenous people in the country feel insecure. Different political government's pledged to meet our demands, but they remain unmet," alleged Bimal Murmu, general secretary of the parishad's upazila unit.

Among others, Basanti Murmu, Sagiel Hasda, Shivlal Tudu, Rubel Tudu and Albert Tudu spoke at the programme.