This is an update article for the previous: Bangladesh and the “genocide” of indigenous Santals
The evicted Santal people in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj have renewed their demand for compensation and return of their ancestral land after a video showing police setting fire to their houses goes viral.
Here the tragic video which shows the shameful action of bangladeshi islamic police torching houses of minority ethnic Santals:
They say they did not get a chance to save their harvest and cattle from the arson attack by police during the eviction drive last month.
The High Court has ordered Gaibandha’s chief judicial magistrate to investigate whether police were involved in the arson or who else have done it (despite videos leave no room for doubt about their complicity).
On Nov 6, police opened fire on Santals who were clashing with workers of Rangpur Sugar Mill, which had acquired the 1,840-acre piece of land. Three tribesmen died in the police firing. The houses of the Santals were also looted, vandalised and torched.
Madarpur village resident Rumila Kisku, who witnessed the incident, told bdnews24.com on Saturday 17/12: “At last the poor’s words have been proved true. I’ve heard that several foreign and local media have published the video of the eviction.”
“It was police who shot at us and set our houses on fire. When the fire erupted, I was there watching the people from the administration and police setting the fire first and then firing from their guns,” she added.
One ‘Taslima’, a member of one of the indigenous families who lost the belongings to the drive, said, “They didn’t give us time. First they opened fire and then they torched our houses. The belongings were looted before we knew what was happening. The cattle were burnt alive.” Sumi Soren, Kandia Soren, Parimal Murmu, Rozina Tudu, Rina Mardy, and Mangal Tudu’s stories are similar to those of Kisku and Taslima.
No one believed that police torched our houses. Now there is evidence, they said.
Many of them have taken shelter at the ground of an abandoned school in Madarpur while some others are lodged at the relatives’ houses. “The fire and the looters have ruined everything,” Rozina Tudu said. Her family had built a homestead for Tk 25,000, she said.
The Santals at Madarpur school ground said they received plastic tents four days ago. But the plastic tents and straw beds are not enough to keep them warm in the dropping winter temperature.
Sahebganj-Bagda Sugarcane Farm Land Recovery Committee Treasurer Rafael Hasda said the families were eating only rice and lentil they had received as relief. “But they won’t give up their demand for getting their ancestral land back, no matter how they suffer,” he added.
Barnabas Tudu, a member of the committee, said the Santals were not using the paddy they had harvested and later returned by the authorities because they will have to repay loans taken for cultivation. “Now the video is out and there is no doubt. We have been saying this for a long time. Now we again demand compensation and trial of those involved with the incident,” he said.
Gaibandha Superintendent of Police Md Ashraful Islam said police were checking the video.
Source: BD News24