Although this law has caused suffering to the minority community for the last four decades, all the governments have upheld it, they said.

They also called for forging a unity to fight injustice done to the minority community by influential people who took away land and properties of Hindu families by taking advantage of the vested property law.

The seminar titled 'Deprivation of affected million families: Living with vested property in Bangladesh' was sponsored by Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), Nijera Kori and Samata.

Prof Abul Barkat, who conducted a research on the effect of vested property law, presented the findings at the seminar.

He said some 12 lakh Hindu households, out of 27 lakh, has so far been affected by the vested property law. They have lost 22 lakh acres of land whose current market price is Tk 2,52,000 crore.

Prof Barkat also said those who looted land and property of Hindu families were influential and well-off people.

According to a study, during the BNP government in 1995, 72 percent of plunderers belonged to BNP while 11 percent belonged to Awami league (AL), he said. During the AL government in 1997, 44 percent of plunderers belonged to AL while 32 percent belonged to BNP, he added.

The study also shows that during the BNP-led four-party alliance government in 2006, 45 percent of plunderers were aligned with BNP, 31 percent with AL, 8 percent with Jamaat-e-Islami and 6 percent with Jatiya Party, Prof Barkat said.

Justice Mohammad Golam Robbani suggests forming a separate tribunal to resolve the issue of vested property law.

Advocate Rana Das Gupta said the caretaker government has also issued a new circular regarding the vested property law, which will add to suffering to the minorities.

He urged the government to stop all activities in this regard until the law is updated.

Former adviser to the caretaker government Sultana Kamal, eminent journalist Kamal Lohani, Advocate Subrata Chowdhury, Advocate Tobarak Hossain, Editor of The New Age Nurul Kabir, Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan of BELA and Shamsul Huda of ALRD also spoke. Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, chaired the seminar.