Establishing land rights of indigenous people stressed

---

Speakers at a roundtable here today underlined the need for ensuring land rights of the indigenous people, who live in the plane land, for protecting their identity and existence in the country, reports BSS.
They suggested setting up a special land commission for the indigenous people so that their rights on the used lands could be established by documentation.
The roundtable titled 'Policy Perspectives On Land Rights of the Adivasis' was jointly organised by Research and Development Collective (RDC) and Volunteer Service Organisation (VSO) at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city Thursday.
Former adviser of the caretaker government and executive director of the Ain-o-Shalish Kendra Advocate Sultana Kamal spoke as the chief guest while RDC Chairman Professor Dr HKS Arefeen was in the chair.
Journalist and writer Syed Abul Maksud, chairman department of anthropology of Dhaka University Dr Ahsan Ali and general secretary of Bangladeshi Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong spoke as the special guests.
RDC General Secretary Professor Mesbah Kamal moderated the meeting and VSO Country Director Shahana Hayat gave the welcome speech. Advocacy adviser of VSO Gina Dizon presented the keynote paper titled 'Adivasi Land Rights, a Lingering Demand; Focus on Northwest Bangladesh'.
Jatiya Adivasi Parishad President Anil Marandi, news editor of RTV SM Akash, Adivasi writer Advocate Michael Soren and publications Secretary Bangladesh Adivasi Odhikar Andolon Rakhi Mrong spoke as the designated discussants.
Terming the land problems of the indigenous people as a political-economy issue, Sultana Kamal said, without true political will the indigenous people would not get back their lands, those had been used by them for the last hundred years collectively without any documentation.
"Everyone knows which lands belong to the indigenous community, if the authority wants they could be rehabilitated on the land through legal process," she said.
The former adviser said the campaign for expressing solidarity with the aborigine would continue until the rights of the indigenous, which were enshrined in the constitution, are materialized.