Hill Voice, 2 July 2020, Bandarban:  A settler named Jalal Ahmed has occupied land of a Jumma named Peter Tripura in Kattali Para of Ward No. 5 of Aziznagar Union in Lama Upazila of Bandarban District.

According to the sources, on 17 June 2020 at noon, a group of settlers including three women led by Md. Jahangir, representative of Jalal Ahmed, son of Md. Abdul Hakim, came to the spot to plant saplings occupying land of Pitor Tripura.

When Pitor Tripura, the real owner of land by inheritance, went to the spot to prevent the settlers, the settler Jahangir showed his financial and muscular strength and power. When the local Member Md. Hashem was called for a just settlement, he also ruled in favor of the occupier Md. Jalal Ahmed.

Taking the opportunity, Jahangir and his gang planted saplings in the presence of the Ward Member. Later, when the plaintiffs went to the chairman of Union Parishad for a trial, the chairman took time for the trial due to his illness.

Meanwhile, Jalal Ahmed and his gang have been threatening Pitor Tripura and his men with death threats for taking the matter to the chairman for arbitration.

It is to be noted that when outsider Muslim settlers tried to occupy this land in 1998, the then UP member Nuruchchafa Master and other dignitaries demarcated the land by reviewing and sorting all the documents of the land in the presence of the plaintiffs and defendants.

At that time, both sides agreed. But despite this, on 16 June 2020, Jalal Ahmed and his men occupied the land belonging to Peter Tripura.

Pitor Tripura’s son Sujan Tripura told Hill Voice’s correspondent that “settlers are constantly occupying land in our area. We are not getting justice anywhere, starting from the administration. Do we not have the right to justice because as Jumma people?”