Speakers at a discussion today demanded the formation of a separate land commission for the plain land ethnic minorities of the country to safeguard their land rights.

The separate land commission must be empowered to take legal action besides making recommendations to the government, the speakers insisted.

There were several lawmakers, lawyers and leaders of the indigenous community among the speakers at the national dialogue on ‘Draft of Separate Land Commission for the Plain Land Indigenous Population.’

As people of the ethnic minorities have been living and cultivating their land collectively over the years based on their ancestral traditions, they never had any ownership documents as required by the country’s law, the speakers pointed out.

Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), Indigenous Peoples Development Services (IPDS), Caritas Bangladesh, Brotee, Gram Bikash Kendra and Jatiya Adivasi Parishad jointly organised the programme at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.

The land rights of plain land indigenous people cannot be protected under the current land laws of the country, says Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum

Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, presented the draft of a proposed land commission for the plain land ethnic minorities.

“The land rights of plain land indigenous people cannot be protected under the current land laws of the country. So, the government must form a separate land commission for them,” he said.

The draft also attached a list of 45 indigenous plain land communities of the country.

Barrister Sara Hossain stressed the need to identify the land of the ethnic minorities and set rules to handover the land to them.

The commission, at the same time, must have a monitoring system to observe the steps taken by the administrations to reclaim the land, she added.

“Politicians forget [about their pledges] when they come to power,” she said.

‘Politicians forget when voted to power’

Speaking as the chief guest, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said the formation of the separate land commission for the people of the plain land ethnic minorities has been reflected in the electoral pledges of different political parties for long.

Unfortunately, after the parties are voted to power, they forget the pledges, he added.

If it is not possible to form the commission by the current parliament, there must be definite pledges for the formation of such a commission in the electoral mandate for the next time, Menon said.

Workers Party lawmaker Tipu Sultan said the commission must define the number of the ethnic groups and have adequate fund to run its activities smoothly.

MJF Director Rina Roy moderated the programme while Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) lawmaker Nazmul Haque Prodhan, Brotee executive director Sharmin Murshed, Jatiya Adivasi Parishad president Rabindranath Soren were among others who spoke.