PM's intervention sought to implement vested property return act

Rights activists yesterday sought the prime minister's intervention in implementing the Vested Property Return Act-2011 for protecting rights of minorities.

Around a dozen rights activities and leaders of minority communities were speaking at a roundtable titled "Fifty years of notorious enemy (vested) property act: Public sufferings" organised by nine rights bodies in Cirdap Auditorium of the capital.

As per the law, a special tribunal has been set up at each district, except in Chittagong Hill Tracts, to try vested property cases. Around two lakh applications have been filed with the tribunals claiming ownership of vested properties, said Shamsul Huda, executive director of Association for Land Reform and Development, while reading out a written statement.

However, the process of disposing the applications is very slow, he added.

Shamsul Huda alleged that in some districts the tribunals have directed removal of illegal occupiers from vested properties, but the deputy commissioners, responsible for the removal, are not complying.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, said thousands of Hindus have left the country in the last four decades since the Liberation War due to land-related disputes.

During the Liberation War, minorities made up 29 percent of the total population, but now the percentage is around nine, he said.

Eminent cultural personality Kamal Lohani chaired the function, while women rights activist Khushi Kabir moderated it.