BIPF, Jatiya Adivasi Forum and Nagarik Samaj jointly hold press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Friday, protesting at police attack on Santal people in Gaibandha.
The November 6 police attack on the Santals in Gaibandha killed at least four people, including a woman, ethnic minority leaders claimed at a press conference on Friday.
Three of the deceased were identified as Shyamal Hembrom, Mangal Mardy and Ramesh Tudu while the name of the woman victim could not yet be confirmed, said Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum’s general secretary Sanjeeb Drong as he read out a written statement at the conference.
The event was jointly organized by the BIPF, Jatiya Adivasi Forum and Nagarik Samaj at Dhaka Reporters Unity in protest against the attack which has allegedly forced 1,200 adivasi families out of their homes.
According to Sanjeeb, the first victim was killed by a bullet immediately after police opened fire on the minority people on November 6.
The next day, the body of the second victim was found in a rice field while the third and the fourth victim died on November 10.
‘The last two victims also died from bullet injuries as they, prevented by the attackers, could not go to a hospital,’ said Sanjeeb.
‘There are reports of more people missing since the attack,’ he added.
After opening fire on the Santals of Sahahebganj-Baghdafarm area, police watched as musclemen loyal to local leaders of the ruling party looted houses before setting those on fire, alleged Jatiya Adivasi Forum’s president Rabindranath Soren.
‘And it did not end here. The politician’s henchmen went on looting houses and assaulting women of two other nearby villages inhabited by the minority people,’ alleged Rabindranath.
Emerging evidence that the ruling party leaders masterminded the attack bears testimony to the state’s patronisation of minority repression, said Oikya NAP president Pankaj Bhattacharya.
‘The government has announced that there are no adivasi people in the country. It seems they are out to prove the statement by driving adivasis out of their homesteads,’ said human rights activist Sultana Kamal.
Independent researcher Syed Abul Maksud, Parbatya Chattagram Janasanghati Samity organising secretary Shaktipada Tripura, and Communist Party of Bangladesh leader Abdullah Kafi Ratan also spoke at the press conference.
The organisers made five demands, including a judicial probe into the incident, compensation to all the victims, their rehabilitation, and punishment of the perpetrators.
– See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/2618/police-attack-killed-4-santals-ethnic-minority-leaders-claim#sthash.4d84IBOW.dpuf
Source: New Age
