Dhaka: Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman on Monday said the indigenous communities are a major victim of the land grabbers who take hold of their lands defying prescribed government rules.

Referring to the earlier records, he alleged that the indigenous communities were being wiped out from their lands following forced evacuation by the land grabbers with the backing of the local administration.

Ifetkharuzzaman made the allegation at a roundtable, titled ‘Evicting Indigenous People from their Land and Guarantee of Land Governance’, arranged jointly by Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) and Bangladesh Adivasi Forum at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the capital.

Speaking at the programme, Associate Professor of Dhaka University Robayet Ferdous said the vested quarters are active in grabbing lands of the indigenous communities using political, administrative or individual clout, as they lacked respect for the constitution and the relevant laws.

Oikya NAP president Pankaj Bhattacharya alleged that the country is now in the grip of bank robbers, land grabbers and terrorists. “As a result, the indigenous people have become landless in their own motherland,” he said.

ALRD president Shamsul Huda, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum general secretary Sanjib Drong and Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council general secretary Rana Dasgupta also spoke at the programme.