Vested Property Return Act
'Cancel proposed amendments'
Some eminent citizens of the country yesterday demanded immediate withdrawal of proposed draft of the Vested Property Return (amendment) Act, 2010.
They called upon the government to amend the act on the basis of the seven-point demand jointly raised by different minority communities, families affected by the act and civil society.
In a joint statement, they said the bill, which was placed in the parliament on December 7 last year for amendment, goes against the prime minister's assurance and civil society's demand.
They also said the lands belonged to the collaborators, who even took citizenship from Pakistan, had been returned to them as abandoned property under the President order.
But, they said, the family property of the minority communities, who are the citizens of the country, had not been returned to their main owners.
"It is an extremely discriminatory, injustice and shameful matter," the statement reads.
The eminent citizens demanded amendment of the act keeping the provision of ensuring the interest of the inheritors irrespective of men and women of the main owner of the vested property or their co-partners.
They also demanded formation of special tribunal at district levels for resolving the dispute over vested property.
The main owners or their inheritors or their co-partners who have the citizenship should get back their properties without any harassment, they demanded.
The signatories to the statement include: National Professor Kabir Chowdhury; historian Prof Salahuddin Ahmed; educationist Zillur Rahman Siddique; Justice Gholam Rabbani; artist Abdul Qaiyum; educationist Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury; artist Prof Hashem Khan; artist Shahabuddin; jurist Dr M Zahir; barrister Rokan Uddin Mahmud; barrister M Amir-Ul-Islam; human rights activists Sultana Kamal and Khushi Kabir; Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled; economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad; Prof Rafiqun Nabi; journalist Shahriar Kabir; historian Muntasir Mamun and litterateur Selina Hossain.
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