DHAKA, BANGLADESH, May 27, 2007: A study conducted by Abul Barkat, Professor of Economics at Dhaka University, has deduced that “nearly 200,000 Hindu families have lost 122,000 bighas (40,667 acres) of land, including their houses, in the six years since the Vested Property Act was annulled in 2001 to return property to their original owners.”
It all started with the introduction of the Enemy Property (Custody and Registration) Order II in 1965 after the India-Pakistan war. Many Hindus were forced to cross the border into India but no records of those evicted were kept. This was followed by the Vested Property Act in 1974 which was just a more friendly name for the same act. Then in 2001, the article says that the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina repealed the Vested Property Act with a view to restoring ownership of the lost land to affected Hindu families. However the reign of the Awami Leaque did not last and the news release added that between 2001 and 2006 politically powerful people grabbed most of the land during the reign of the BNP-led alliance government.
In conclusion Abul Barkat said that “The problem has had tragic effects on the demography over 42 years and he acknowledges that it will also be a huge task to establish the rights of the original owners. According to Abul, more than 60 per cent of the owners and the successors of vested properties are either dead or have left the country. This is a man-made problem contrary to the spirit of humanity. We have to get rid of this uncivilized state of affairs.” However, according to the news release, Professor Abul does have a number of recommendations such as identification and listing of such cases and lands, amendments to certain provisions of the 2001 law that hinders its implementation, cancellation of leases of such land to different people for 99 years, and involving citizens’ groups in addressing the problem.