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Land lost, so is livelihood
FROM PAGE 12
Protection Movement.
A FALSE CASE, FEAR OF REPRISAL
“In 2017, Arif Hossain, manager of the rubber company, filed a fabricated case against five of us, including Johon Tripura, headman of Daluchhari mouza, to harass us and grab our ancestral land,” said Rengyan Mro, karbari of Rengyan Mro Para.
Living in fear of also being evicted from their homes, these Mro families have not visited the police station or filed a case over grabbing of their land, said the community leaders.
Headman Johon Tripura said, “Members of law enforcement agencies help the land grabbers grab our ancestral land. Sometimes, these agency members call us to their offices and threaten us.
“When we protested, they filed a false case against us.”
Mizanur Rahman, officer-in charge of Lama Police Station, denied the allegation and said on Monday, “When the Mro people contacted us, we suggested they go to court to solve the problem.”
In 2017, an investigation was conducted by Sayed Iqbal, the then assistant commissioner (land) of Lama, into the plots the rubber company claims as theirs.
The Daily Star obtained the copy of his investigation report.
Signed in October 2017, it stated the Mro people of Daluchhari mouza had been using this jhum land for generations and if the land was allotted for use as rubber plantation, the Mro indigenous people would be left with no means for their livelihood.
If the land is not taken over by Lama Rubber Industries, there is no danger of peace being disturbed in the area, the report also stated.
The Daily Star contacted Sayed Iqbal, now UNO of Alikadom upazila, for comment on Monday but he said as it was several years ago, he couldn’t recall the instance. When asked if he would like to look over the document in question and then comment, he declined.
Refuting all allegations, Lama Rubber Industries Limited Manager Arif Hossain said they did not grab any jhum land but Mro and Tripura people had illegally entered their rubber plot area instead.
“We didn’t threaten anyone,” he said.
Arif said Lama Rubber Industries has 375 acres of land in Sarai mouza and 1,225 acres of land in Daluchhari mouza.
In 1994, the company shareholders took out a lease on these plots for a rubber plantation for a period of 40 years from the district administration, he added.
However, one of the conditions of the lease agreement -- as noted in another investigation report by the kanungo (revenue clerk) of the Lama upazila land office in October 2017 -- is that the leaseholder must complete the project work within five years of getting the allotment.
When asked about no cultivation on their leased land for at least 26 years, violating this condition of the lease agreement, Arif claimed, “We don’t know if there is any condition like this in the agreement.”

Tigers fail
FROM PAGE 12
the visitors score a further 186 runs for their last five wickets. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took four, as did one pacer Abu Jayed, but they came at a cost of too many runs.
Nkrumah Bonner, Joshua De Silva and even bowler Alzarri Joseph filled their boots against a listless attack, taking the score past 400.

Greek parliament approves plan for police at univs
Afp, Athens
The Greek parliament on Thursday approved a plan to create a special police force to patrol university campuses, despite sometimes strong opposition from students.
The functioning of Greek universities has been disrupted for decades by clashes and violence against staff, often blamed on youth organisations affiliated with leading political parties.
In October, there was uproar after the rector of the Athens University of Economics and Business was assaulted in his office by a group of hooded youths and forced to wear a sign around his neck that read ‘Solidarity to sit-ins’.
Drugs and firearms have also on occasion been found stashed on university park grounds.
However the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been accused of authoritarianism over the plan to create a dedicated 1,000-strong force to patrol campuses.
The main opposition leftist Syriza party has branded the measure undemocratic.
On Thursday the ruling New Democracy party MPs backed by a small nationalist party backed the measure by 166 votes with 132 MPs opposed
Deputies from the centre-left Kinal and leftist Syriza opposition party, along with the communist KKE voted against the draft law which they said runs counter to the European principle of self-management of universities.
While the debate was ongoing in parliament a crowd protested outside, condemning the move as “antidemocratic”.
Police put the number of protesters at a thousand.
“It’s not the police entering the universities, it’s democracy,” Mitsotakis told the parliamentarians.
“A way to close the door on violence is to open the path to freedom,” he added.
In Greece’s second city Thessalonika protesters and police clashed, according to the Greek news agency Ana.
On Wednesday some 5,000 students protested in Athens against the special police plan, the biggest such gathering yet.
Riot police used tear gas to disperse a small group of protesters in front of the parliament building and skirmished with club-wielding demonstrators who tried to break through their line on Wednesday.
Twenty-four were arrested for possession and use of explosives, according to a judicial source.
The authorities said three policemen were injured in the violence while the organisers said four protesters had been hurt.
The issue of police entering universities is highly sensitive in Greece, where memories of student beatings and killings by security forces during the 1967-74 military dictatorship are still raw.
Greece remains under a national lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with movement restricted between regions and people required to give a valid reason for leaving their homes.
The planned special police force will comprise 1,000 officers who will not carry firearms but will be equipped with batons, tear gas, and anaesthetic gas.