Indigenous people leaving country due to rise of communalism

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

Alleges Jatiya Adivasi Parishad

STAFF CORRESPONDENT, RAJSHAHI

Indigenous people are leaving the country due to a sense of insecurity against the backdrop of rising incidents centring communalism and fundamentalism, said Jatiya Adivasi Parishad leaders yesterday.

In the last two months, around 100 indigenous families of Godagari upazila in Rajshahi district and Jhilim union of Chapainawabganj district left the country, said the parishad President Rabindranath Soren.

Addressing a press conference in Rajshahi city’s Miapara Public Library auditorium, he said there were attacks on Hindus and their places of worship following the February 28 death sentence on Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.

Simultaneously, fundamentalist forces in association with local land grabbers started threatening indigenous people to leave the country, he said, adding that this was prompting many indigenous people to leave and others living in villages to keep indoors.

The affected villages include Gogram, Bottoli, Edolpur, Kantopasha, Agalpur, Baganpara, Domdoma, Telibari, Chowduar, Muraripur, Atahar, Sakura, Champatola, Chhatnipara,Gonshapara, Babuldaying and Hujrapur in Godagari and Boiltha, Chottigram and Babudaying of Jhilim.

Panic has also gripped indigenous people of Natore, Naogaon and Joypurhat. “We want the government look into the matter,” he said.

The parishad placed three demands — formulation of laws to protect indigenous people and establishing a national commission for ethnic affairs, establishment of a separate and independent land commission for plain-land indigenous people, and ensuring security and immediate steps to mitigate the crisis.