 Eight environmental and social organisations staged a sit-in protest in Chattogram on Thursday, accusing government lawyers of failing to support the public interest case now before the High Court over the eviction of illegal structures on the Karnaphuli River and instead siding with encroachers.
The protest was held from 11:00 am at Cheragi Pahar intersection in the Chattogram metropolitan area, organised by the Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement.
The programme was chaired by valiant freedom fighter Dr. Mahfuzur Rahman and moderated by SM Peyar Ali, president of the Karnaphuli River Sampan Boatmen Welfare Association Federation.
Other organisations taking part in the sit-in were Bangladesh Environment Forum, Srishti, Karnaphuli River Sampan Boatmen Welfare Association Federation, Karnaphuli Protection Council, United Social Network, Rezaul Karim Sikdar Foundation and Bangladesh Sailors’ Workers Federation.
During the protest, speakers warned that if their three-point demand to protect the Karnaphuli was not implemented soon, they would launch a broader movement and halt sampan and ship movement on the river.
Their three demands were the withdrawal of the DIG and AIG who, they alleged, were opposing the public interest case at the High Court by taking the side of encroachers, implementation of the High Court order recognising the river as a living entity by freeing the Karnaphuli from encroachment and pollution, and action to preserve the more than 350 remaining native species of trees on the riverbanks while planting large numbers of such trees under the government’s afforestation programme.
In his remarks as chair, Dr Mahfuzur Rahman said Bangladesh had long been run in the pattern of British profiteers. Whoever comes to power, he said, loots the country’s resources, keeps some at home and sends the rest abroad. He said the disorder would not end unless the country was run through village government or ward government in the model of slain president Ziaur Rahman.
He said illegal occupiers of the Karnaphuli had earlier been aligned with the Awami League and were now seen as BNP. He also said people would expose the masks of state-paid lawyers in court if they stood for handing over the country’s resources to looters and encroachers.
Valiant freedom fighter Sohrab Hossain said Bangladesh stood tall economically because of the Karnaphuli. It was unfortunate, he said, that the government and administration had remained indifferent for so long to protecting the river that drives the country. He said they had been pressing their demands for a long time and warned that people would not forgive the authorities unless the Karnaphuli was freed from encroachment and pollution.
Journalist Aliur Rahman said people had hoped illegal structures on the Karnaphuli would be removed following declarations by the new government on protecting rivers and canals. He alleged that government lawyers were now siding with encroachers in a move to destroy the Karnaphuli permanently and said people from all walks of life in Chattogram would resist it.
Among those who spoke at the programme were journalist Aliur Rahman, general secretary of the Chattogram River and Canal Protection Movement, valiant freedom fighter Sohrab Hossain, Jane Alam, vice-president of CAB Chattogram metropolitan unit, journalist Kamal Parvez, president of Karnaphuli Protection Council, M Nurul Huda Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Sailors’ Workers Federation, Zahidul Karim Bappi, executive director of Rezaul Karim Sikdar Foundation, Jafar Ahmad, senior vice-president of the Karnaphuli River Sampan Boatmen Welfare Association Federation, Lokman Dayal, senior joint secretary, Amir Hossain, director of United Social Network, Mozammel Hossain, president of the Hand-Operated Large Sampan Boatmen Association, Korban Ali, general secretary of the Char Patharghata Bridge Ghat Sampan Association, Suman Ray, general secretary of the Fishermen’s Association, and social worker Arman Hossain.
