Attacks on adivasis getting more vicious

Eleven rights bodies form a human chain before the capital's Jatiya Press Club yesterday, demanding arrest of the alleged land grabbers who attacked Khasis in Moulvibazar's Srimangal upazila on Friday. Photo: Amran Hossain

The attacks on the indigenous population have become more vicious than ever before while the state takes no steps to protect them, 11 human rights organisations said yesterday.
The main reason behind the violence is to evict them and grab their ancestral lands where they have been living for centuries, they added.
The rights groups said these at a human chain they formed in front of the capital's Jatiya Press Club to protest the recent assault on Khasis in Moulvibazar's Sreemangal upazila.
Alleged land grabbers from neighbouring Nahar Teat Estate attacked Nahar Punjee-1, a Khasi village, on May 30, leaving 20 people of the indigenous group injured.
Addressing the event, Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said the indigenous people should be given the rights to their land.
Since Bangladesh is a signatory to the ILO Convention-107 that recognises indigenous communities' rights to the land they traditionally use, it should act accordingly, he said.
The activists also demanded immediate arrests of the attackers of the Sreemangal Khasis and a separate land commission for plain land indigenous communities.
The other organisers are Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, Adivasi Poribesh Rakkha Andolon, Ain o Salish Kenrda, Association for Land Reform and Development, BLAST, IED,Jatiya Adivasi Parishad, Kapaeeng Foundation, Nagorik Udyog, and Green Voice. Manusher Jonno Foundation also took part.