Editorial
Restore their ancestral homes
Authorities must act expiditiously
ONCE again, injustice repeats in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Fourteen land grabbers evicted 22 Chak families in Naikhangchhari Upazila of Bandarben. Where are these land grabbers now? Surprisingly not in jail, in fact they are yet to face any action even after a probe report had recommended their immediate arrest. The expropriators have help from local rubber sapling suppliers who go into contracts with land grabbers to grab land.
Cases where the ethnic communities got their land back from the grabbers are few and far between. The victims of this injustice could not even file any case against these 14 land grabbers, the level of corruption and injustice is to that level, and it has been over three months since the incident took place.
We all know what the right thing to do here is. There is no grey area or confusion in this case. Yet we are offering no protection to the vulnerable indigenous community which is often harassed and intimidated by vested quarters.
The real test of good governance lies in providing peace, security and livelihood options to groups of people who are in a minority. Far from it, we are failing to basically protect their right to their ancestral homes.
In the present case, the culprits are known and arrests have been recommended by a duly authorized probe committee. All that is needed is hauling them up and restoring the grabbed lands to their rightful owners.
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