Indigenous people protest land grabbing in Tangail

People from the Garo indigenous group have formed a human chain protesting the illegal grabbing of their lands from the grabbers in Madhupur upazila, Tangail.

Hundreds joined in the human chain organised by the Joyenshahi Adibasi Unnayan Parishad (JAUP) and members of the indigenous group at the Tangail-Mymensingh highway near Pachismile on Tuesday afternoon.

Youjin Nakrek, president, Herid Sangma, general secretary of JAUP, Liang Risil, president of Garo Student Federation spoke at the program among others.

The protesters said a local influential group has grabbed at least 3.81 acres of land of a certain Bishwanath Garo and are constructing an illegal multistoried building there.

Pravati Sangma, grand-daughter of the landowner Bishwanath, said: “We inherited the land after my mother according to the law. But we cannot live in the land because some influentials are trying to illegally occupy it.”

Pravati, along with other protesters, called for help and intervention from the concerned authority to return the land to the owner’s family.