attacks on tribals for possession of their lands increase

Last month a native was murdered. A few weeks later, the indigenous peoples reported that a rubber industry had poisoned their waters. Catholic activist: “No one has been tried for the murders.”

Dhaka () – A native named Narendra Nath Munda was killed in the village of Dhumghat, in the Satkhira district. Although the local police opened a case against 22 people, the victim’s son, Sanatan Munda, affirms that about 200 men attacked the inhabitants of the area to take possession of their land: “They surrounded 10-12 houses and then beat us ”, he told .

The incident happened last month. “At that time – says Sanatan – four people, including my father, were plowing the land and attacked them. We couldn’t help them because we were also being attacked,” he continued. “After three and a half hours of fighting they left and we recovered the four people from the fields. They were injured and we took them to the hospital. The next day, August 17, my father died.”

Sanatan explained that he called the police, but they did not immediately intervene: “We called the local governor but he did not take any action to protect us. I called the police station several times, but when they finally arrived, the attackers had already left.”

In that area live 32 tribal families in two villages, who own 60 hectares of land. In 2015 they had falsified documents to seize some land.

The head of the Shyamnagar police station, Kazi Wahid Morshed, denied the accusation that the officers did not come to the scene: “We arrived quickly, but the attackers had already escaped. We have arrested five people and are looking for the others.”

Days later, the tribal populations of the village of Lama, in the district of Bandarban, denounced the poisoning of their waterfall, the only source of drinking water for dozens of families. Locals staged a protest against the Lama Rubber Industries Company, whose employees were seen pouring poison into the water.

The company’s director has denied the accusations, saying he does not know “who spreads the poison” and that his employees “do not go near the tribal areas out of fear.”

Sanjeeb Drong, a Catholic and general secretary of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, stated that “attacks and killings against the tribal population have been verified not only in Satkhira but also in Gaibandha and elsewhere. The main objective is to expel the tribals from their land and this trend has grown in recent years.”

Drang explained that evictions are carried out in two ways: on the one hand, the government forces indigenous people to relocate by creating parks and hotels for tourists in the name of development; on the other hand, land grabbers attack and kill indigenous people or falsify documents. “They also killed some tribals in Madhupur Naogaon but no one was charged or tried for these killings,” added Drang. “Consequently, the message is sent that there are no consequences if tribals are killed.”