& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Urdu-speaking people 'forced' to be voters They allege in letter to CA

Staff Correspondent
Urdu-speaking people in the country have accused some BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders of using threats and violence to force them to enrol their names in the Election Commission's voter list.
They have sent a letter to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in this regard.
The HC ruled earlier this year that the stranded Pakistanis in the country can voluntarily enrol their names in the voters list
But in the letter addressed to Fakhruddin on August 24, and signed by the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRO president Abdul Jabbar Khan, the committee accused certain activists and leaders of the two political parties of forcing members of the community to register their names.
Copies of the letter have also been sent to the Chief Election Commissioner, Pakistani High Commissioner, home secretary, deputy elections commissioner, and district administrator of Dhaka.
The SPGRC president alleged that EC officials influenced by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami were barging into the camp without any prior notice or consultation with the community leaders and creating 'chaos' by forcing the residents of the camp to register their names in the voter roll.
Speaking to The Daily Star, SPGRC leaders said local BNP and Jamaat activists were targeting their community for voter registration, as these parties believe that stranded Pakistanis would constitute a 'guaranteed' voting bloc in their favour.
Residents of the Geneva Camp in the city’s Mohammadpur area said ward leaders of BNP have also issued threats to the community of causing grievous bodily harm to the stranded Pakistanis if they do not enrol.
“We do not want to become voters. We want to return to Pakistan. If we are forced to become voters, we lose our desired identity,” one SPGRC leader living in the Mohammadpur camp said.
In the letter, SPGRC said there was no Election Commission order to force stranded Pakistanis to register their names for voting. The SPGRC president said that the stranded Pakistanis in the country are already identified. They hold ration cards and are given aid in 70 camps across 13 districts of the country.
One SPGRC leader told The Daily Star that they fear they will be thrown out of the camps if they are no longer identified as stranded Pakistanis after being enrolled as voters.
He said there have already been cases of such ousting in stranded Pakistani camps in Khulna.