Indigenous leaders here yesterday demanded exemplary punishment to a culprit for rape of an indigenous housewife in Sakhipur upazila and withdrawal of ‘false’ case against the victim’s family.

Several hundred indigenous people belonging to Koch, Barmon and Garo tribes of Tangail and Gazipur districts demonstrated at Tangail Shaheed Minar premises yesterday and held a protest rally there to press the demand.

Tribal Welfare Association of Sakhipur and Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan jointly organised the protest rally.

With Sakhipur Tribal Welfare Association chairman Rabindra Kumar Barmon in the chair, Gano Forum presidium member Pankaj Bhattachariya, prominent writer Syed Abul Moksud and general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolan Prof Mezbah Kamal addressed the rally as the main speakers. (more…)

Anwar Ali from Naogaon

Almost 47 families, mostly indigenous, could hardly forget the indiscriminate attack by a group of people on them to grab the victim’s land at Nakhoil Boarambari village in Niamatpur upazila of Naogaon on September 23.

Though two cases were filed with Niamatpur Police Station in this connection, none was arrested as of yesterday. Rather, the “land grabbers” are now threatening them, alleged the families.

Shariful, the alleged “Land grabber”, along with his 60 men equipped with sticks, spears (locally known as ballam), and machetes attacked the houses of the families at dawn on the day, said local people. (more…)

Religious bigots vandalised and looted at least 10 houses of the Ahmadiyyas in Chandtara village of the district’s Ghatail upazila early yesterday.

Irate at the move to build an Ahmadiyya mosque in the area, they attacked the houses at around 2:00am and continued pillaging till 6:00am in the morning, local sources said.

Earlier on Saturday, 10 Ahmadiyyas were injured in an attack while returning from the foundation-laying ceremony of the mosque.

Abu Taher Akhand, a member of the Ahmadiyya community, told The Daily Star that paddy, furniture, livestock and household items worth around Tk 10 lakh were looted from his house.

“They made the attack after police left the village,” he said.

His family and dwellers of the other houses however managed to flee to safety, he added. (more…)

Ten Ahmadiyyas were injured yesterday when a group of enraged villagers attacked them at Chandtara village of Ghatail upazila yesterday afternoon.

The followers of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Bangladesh came under attack at 2:00pm after inaugurating the construction works of a mosque at Akandapara, local sources said.

The injured were Jafarullah, Mozibor, Halim, Saidur, Arif, Motaher, Abdul Hai and Ibrahim Hossain. Identities of the two other victims could not be ascertained. The injured were sent to Tangail and Dhaka for treatment. (more…)

Govt plans separate land commission

The government is weighing the idea of constituting a separate commission to settle the disputes over the lands of ethnic minority people living on the plains.
Food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque said on Saturday that the prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ‘sincere enough’ to settle the disputes over the lands of ethnic minority people living on the plains.
‘She [prime minister] assured me on Thursday that the government would form a separate commission to settle the disputes over the lands of adivasis living on the plains or empower the commission for Chittagong Hill Tracts to deal with their problems,’ the minister told a seminar on land rights of ethnic minority communities at the LGED auditorium in Dhaka. (more…)