Benazir didn’t spare the hills also

After coming to know that former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed bought acres of lands at different areas across the country including Cox’s Bazar and St Martin, information is now surfacing that the land grabber did not spare hills also as he and his wife and daughter own about 100 acres of hilly land in two upazilas in Bandarban.

Local people said fish and cattle farms, holiday bungalows and fruit orchards have been built on those hilly lands. They alleged that Benazir grabbed the lands from the helpless poor people by abusing the power and forced them to move elsewhere.

According to the locals, the occupied hill lands include 25 acres of land in Suwalk union at Sadar upazila and55 acres of land at Doluchari Mauza in Lama upazila. These lands are in the name of Benazir.

Mong Waiching Marma, the president of the district Swechchhasebak League, and the headmen of two Mauzas helped him to buy and occupy these lands at a nominal price, alleged the locals.

According to local sources, while he was Rapid Action Batallion (RAB) Director General (DG) in 2016, Benazir Ahmed, his wife Zeeshan Mirza and daughter Farheen Rishta bint Benazir leased 25 acres of land in Plot No. 614 and Sheet No. 3 in Sualak Mauza No. 314 of Swalak union in Bandarban Sadar upazila from Shahjahan, the father of Abul Kashem, a resident of Bandarban Municipality.

A visit to the spot revealed that fish and cattle farms have been set up and a two-storied bungalow house built for mountain retreats on the 25 acres of leased land.

The farm also has 35 saleable cows. The farm employee said that the price of the biggest cow is Tk 2.5 lakh. Apart from this, various types of fruits and forest trees have been planted around the farm. The entrance to the garden has an attractive gate.

On the other hand, there is 55 acres of hilly land in the name of Benazir's family at Tonggzhiri under Doluchari Mouja of Sarai union at Lama. Different types of mixed fruit and forest tree gardens have been developed there. He also built a bungalow house there. It takes a whole day to visit the entire mountain area.

Benazir Ahmed has been able to get the hilly lands very easily in concert with public representative Kyshaihlata in the name of himself and his wife and daughter.

At one time there were many helpless and poor families living in Tonggzhiri of Doluchari Mauza. But the abuse of power exercised by the former IGP, with the help of local influentials, forcibly occupied the entire 55 acres of land at a nominal price and forced the residents to move out of the lands. Although, these hill lands were the only means of survival and source of income for the helpless families.

Ajit Tripura of Doluchari Mouja said, “I was quite young when the place was taken over. I still remember that Mong Waiching came and forcibly occupied five acres of land by paying Tk 1 lakh to my father. Similarly, they snatched away lands from many in the neighbourhood.”

“When we tried to protest, policemen from Lama and Bandarban used to harass us in various ways. For so long I could not say the words properly to anyone because of fear. But the hill leaders knew that they too were helpless,” he said.

Faisa Pru, a former member of Doluchari Mauza said, "There is 55 acres of hilly land belonging to the Benazir Ahmed family in my area. The lands were once inhabited by many destitute families, but now the entire place is occupied by a former police officer. Awami League leader Mong Waiching, daughter-in-law of the hill district council chairman, helped Benazir grabbing the land. The actual owners of the lands were forbidden to talk about the issues, or threatened to be implicated in a case.’

However, denying these allegations, District Swechchhasebak League President Mong Waiching said, “I have some land next to Benazir Ahmed's land in Sualak's Majherpara. One day a police officer came and asked me to look after the places of Benazir Ahmed. I looked after their lands. But I don't know about the lands at Tongzhiri area in Doluchari of Lama upazila.”

Bandarban DC Shah Mojahid Uddin said, “I don’t know anything about Benazir Ahmed forcibly occupying lands or about the leased land of Bandarban. We will take appropriate measures after getting the details about the information.”