Land Md. Badiul Alam occupied thousand acres of land belonging indigenous Jummas and permanent Bengali residents in Alikadam
Recently land grabber named Md. Badiul Alam s/o M A Rashid from Comilla district and his gang have grabbed thousand acres of land belonging to indigenous Jumma people and permanent Bengali residents of Toinfa mouza, Alikadam mouza, Chaikhyong mouza and Toin mouza under Alikadam upazila in Bandarban district.
As a result of the land grabbing, Jumma villagers of 4 indigenous Mro villages out of 21 villages have been evicted from their villages. Furthermore, the villagers of the remaining villages who have been living since British era are also facing continuous threats of eviction by the land grabbers.
Following land grabbing, on 17 July 2013 local people destroyed plantation made by Md. Badiul Alam and his gang on occupied land. In retaliation to this, the gang of Badiul Alam tried to attack on indigenous villages on that day. Following turmoil situation, on 18 July 2013 Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Alikadam uapzila Motabbar Ahmed called a law and order meeting where chairman of Alikadam upazila Abul Kalam, Vice-Chairman Md. Riton, Officer-in-Charge of Alikadam police station Md. Hussain, leaders of PCJSS, Awami League and BNP were present. In this meeting, Badiul Alam failed to show any document for these occupied land.
It is learnt that, Md. Badiul Alam and his gang have seized at least 10,000 acres of land traditionally owned by the local indigenous peoples of the Ukling Mro village, Chonong Mro village, Probhat Tripura village, Dhormo Charan Tripura village, London Mro village, Meno Tanchangya village, Bhabi Mro village, Kalaburi Marma village and Domoching Marma village under Alikada upazila.
The headman of the Alikadam mouza Mr. Aung Hla Aching said, one of the land grabbers Ynus Gazi cut his more than 2000 tick plants. The land grabber Md. Badiul Alam has grabbed not only the lands of indigenous peoples but also grabbed the lands belonging to permanent Bengali residents. He has grabbed 17 acres of land out of 20 acres belonging to 4 Bengali people including one Mohammad Shah Jahan of Purbo Palong village of Alikadam upazila.
According to the local people, Md. Badiul Alam is a resident of Comilla distrit headquarters and he lives in Dhaka who is a very influential person. He had acquaintance with former Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Alikadam Mohammad Asaduzzaman. When he came to Alikadam fromDhakaby riding Pajero car he used to live and eat in his home. In several programmes, he adorns the chair of the chief guest. He has locally formed a cadre group by hiring some desperate people comprising both Bengali and indigenous people. His terrorist group regularly threatens local innocent permanent Bengali and indigenous peoples. The Badiul Alam gang has also built a few mile long roads for their expediency. In the farm house of Badiul Alam daily 15-20 people regularly work.
According to the local people, Md. Badiul Alam regularly threatens the local Mro, Tripura, Marma and Tanchangya indigenous peoples of filing false charges and of killing. He also carries gun with him when he moves in the area. He usually brings laborers of Garo, Khasia and Tripura indigenous peoples from Mymensingh, Potuakhali and Sitakunda areas.
If the local indigenous peoples including Mro, Tripura, Marma and Tanchangya people try to prevent him from land grabbing, he tactfully uses his indigenous laborers as their opponent against them. Even he threatened to local people to file false charges against them of fabricated rape cases on his Garo indigenous female laborers. According to the local sources, he also paid money to local police and some of the political leaders of the area. He claimed to the local people that, the lands, how far you can see ahead with your eyes, are belonging to me.
A team of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council (CHTRC) comprising its member K S Mong, Sadhuran Tripur and Shafikur Rahman investigated to the spot on 13 June 2013 at Chaikhyong mouza. The investigation team mentioned that one Jafar Alam and one Malek Chowdhury of Toin mouza, one Bulu Miya of Alikadam mouza, one Mohammad Idris Gazi are active in land grabbing activities. In Toinfa mouza, Ledu Miya, Gedu Miya, Harun–ur–Rashid and Idris gang are active in land grabbing along with Mohammad Badiul Alam. Meanwhile, the local Bengali and indigenous peoples have conducted meeting, demonstration and press conference against the land grabbing but all efforts were fruitless as the administration did not take any action. The law and order will be deteriorated if no measure is taken to solve the problem.
It is worth mentioning that, there is a large syndicate of land grabbers which is forcefully occupying the lands of local Mro, Marma, Tripura and Tanchangya indigenous peoples who have been living in the area for centuries. The syndicate includes local desperate persons, local political leaders, government officials, high level bureaucrats, high level political leaders so on who have been playing active and passive role in land grabbing.
