Citizens want justice of attack on Santals

Eminent citizens on Saturday urged the government to ensure justice for the November 6 attack on Santals at Sahebganj-Bagda farm of Rangpur Sugar Mills at Gobindaganj in Gaibandha and proper compensation for the victims.
Sachetan Nagarikbrinda, a platform of ‘conscious citizens’, at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity claimed that the attacks left three Santals dead, 20 injured and several hundred homeless.
At the press conference on ‘sharing experiences of visiting affected people’s miseries in attacks on Santals of Gobindaganj and role of citizens’, they also urged the government to form a judicial probe body to investigate the attack and find out the attackers and their masterminds.
Gobindaganj police arrested two more people - Sarwar, 41, and Akbar Ali, 50, of Tarafkamal Kamarpara at Gobindaganj at their houses early Saturday in connection with the attacks, said Gobindaganj police officer-in-charge Subrata Kumar Sarker.
With this, the number of arrested rose to 10 in the case filed by Swapan Murmu, a Santal man, with Gobindaganj police against about 600 unnamed people in connection with the attack.
Reading out the written statement at the press conference, Bangladesh Adibasi Forum general secretary Sanjeeb Drong placed seven-point demands including ensuring the victim Santals security to go back to their own lands to live, taking responsibility of treatment of all the injured victims, withdrawing all the cases filed against Santals, withdrawing the local administration responsible for the attacks and building ‘Phulmoni Murmu Shishu Shiksha O Sangskriti Kendra’ at the cost of the government.
Addressing the press conference, economist Abul Barakat said that the state had been oppressing the ethnic minorities for the past 300 years and that was why the governments kept their eyes closed when the ethnic minorities were attacked.
He said that the government’s proposal of building special economic zone in the affected area was baseless as such a zone needed national highway within 10 kilometers and navigable river nearby and the area did not fulfill the requirements.
He said that a special economic zone could not be established on a three-crop arable land but all the Santal lands were three-crop lands.
Oikya NAP president Pankaj Bhattacharjee, writer Syed Abul Maksud, Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir and Association for Land Reforms and Development executive director Shamsul Huda also spoke. 

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