Give us promised khas land

The rally was held at Shahid Zaheda Nagar (former Baburabad) in Kaligonj to celebrate Shahid Zaheda Day.

The landless people there observe the day in memory of Zaheda Khatun, a landless women killed in clashes with land grabbers on July 27, 1998. The local people renamed Baburabad village after Zaheda following the incident.

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Speakers at the rally reiterated their eight-point demand vowed to continue agitation for distribution of government lands among the landless in the area. said in wh at the graveyard at upazila with a call to intensify the ongoing movement to establish landless people's rights to government khas land.

" I lost my wife but I am happy that the landless people are united to realise khas lands", Zaheda's husband Abdul Hamid told the rally.

Ignoring rains, thousands landless men and women from eight villages in Kaligonj and Debhata upazilas gathered near the grave of Shahid Zaheda to establish their right to khas land and pay tributes to the memory of zaheda.

On July 27, 1998, some 10000 landless people with sticks and iron rods in hands had gathered at Baburabad (now Shahid Zahedanagar) to resist when land grabbers tried to evict landlessa people from government lands. There are about 1000 acres of khas land in the area.

This year the program was organised by Debhata-Kaligonj Bhumihin Sangram Committee. The rally was presided over by Wahab Ali Sardar.

Advocate Abdur Rahim was the chief guest while Kaligonj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sheikh Maniruzzaman, Prof Abu Ahmed, Abdul Gani, Firoz Ahmed and Badrul Alam were special guests at the rally. It was addressed by, among others, Sardar Kazem Ali, Abdul Hamid, Kawsar Ali, Abdur Rashid, Mujibar Rahman, Mostafizur Rahman, Abul Kalam, Okalat Ali, Moksed Ali, Faizul Islam and Abdul Mannan.

The speakers vowed to continue agitation till their eight-point demand is met

They blamed the local administration for failure to implement the commitment made by the then opposition leader Khaleda Zia.

At a big gathering of landless people at Debishahar football ground on August 8, 1998, the then opposition leader had said that khas lands in eight villages in the area would be distributed among the landless, the speakers said.

The speakers also urged the landless people to remain vigilant against alleged conspiracies by vested quarters to grab government lands.

The rally was followed by a big procession in the area.