The filling up of the historical pond of Barisal Saint Peter’s Church is now being carried out hastily following Saturday’s protest by the Christians.
Upon visit, it was found that police have secured the court premises and are barring photo journalists from entering the area and taking pictures of the speedily advancing work of filling the pond.
One of the workers, on condition of anonymity, said: “We are now using pumps and dredging machines to complete the work quickly.”
Norbert Nipu Adhikari, President of Barisal Christian Association, said they are feeling very insecure to protest or protect their grabbed land as the work is being carried out by pro-ruling-party lawyers with the support of the police and the administration.
Nipu said they were to hand over a memorandum of protest to the deputy commissioner, but according to Babul Biswas, secretary St. Peter’s Church, the programme was postponed for further discussion with the leader of the Church of Bangladesh to decide future actions about this issue.
Last Saturday, when people of the Christian community held a human chain to protest the land-grabbing for construction of a court building for the Barisal district judge court complex, a group of AL-backed lawyers led by senior members of the district bar association attacked the protesters and injured 14 including 10 females and a journalist.
Police rushed to the spot and rescued the protesters who took shelter inside the church. However, no arrests were made in this connection. According to the OC, no complaints were filed.
There are a lot of lands inside the court compound which could be selected as an alternative site for the proposed 10-storey court building without grabbing the church land and violating the environment act, said the Christian community leaders.
Shanti Mandal, representative of Church of Bangladesh in Barisal, said: “The Public Works Department started filling the church pond adjacent to the judge court complex from April 9.”
The pond standing on 52 decimals land was excavated for the baptism of Christians. The Saint Peter’s Church was constructed in 1849 on 1.5 acres of land leased from British PWD; later it was recorded as property of the church.
