photo-internet Bandarban Representative : The Mro indigenous p...
Bandarban Representative :
The Mro indigenous peoples of chimbuk hill organized a long march Chimbuk Hill towards Bandarban Sadar to protest against construction of five star hotel at Naitong hill in Bandarban on the initiative of Sikder Group and Army Welfare Trust.
Today, Sunday (February 08, 2021) morning, they started this long march on foot. People from chimbuk, including women and children have participated in it. It has known After the long march reached Bandarban town and a protest rally hold there.
The people participating in the long march said, 'My land is my mother', 'Our land is our right not yours',' Stop unjust interference in our livelihood ',' This mountain is our life ',' Mountain will not be distorted for profit ',' Your tourism business is our trap of dead '' is carrying placards with slogans like.
Earlier, on November 7 last year, the Mro peoples staged a protest through a cultural showdown and demanded the cancellation of the five-star hotel construction project. On October 8, they issued a memorandum to the Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina demanding the cancellation of this curse tourism project.
Massive protests were organized all over the country including the Chittagong Hill Tracts demanding the cancellation of the project. The country's intellectual community and international human rights organizations also issued letters and press statements to the government demanding the cancellation of the project.
From the long march they raised 5 demands. The demands are:
1. The project to set up a five-star hotel and amusement park on the Naitang hill in Chimbuk should be canceled.
2. The harassment and intimidation of locals, people's representatives and students should be stopped.
3. In the lineage of Mro of Chimbuk, it is necessary to refrain from taking any initiative to establish any kind of tourism and recreation center.
4. Project to expand the Nilgiri tourist spot by occupying the land of local peoples can not be taken in any way.
5. Whatever the purpose of using the Chimbuk hill land, it should be discussed involving all the neighbors of the Chimbuk hill besides the local village chief, headmen and people's representatives.
The project is still continuing despite widespread protests. Further there are allegations of harassment and obstruction of the Mro people living in and around the Naitong hills.
The movement spokesperson student`s leader Reng Young Mro said, `If no action is taken in the next 10 days to cancel the tourism project, Mro peoples will not stop the movement. If there is an attempt to crush the demands of the Chimbuk hill people, the anger, the pain, the anguish that they carry in their minds, they are talking about justice, you cannot alleviate that pain. No force can keep them down.`
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