Sherpur (Bogura) Correspondent

In a press conference organized by the Indigenous Coordination Committee, demands for the security of vulnerable tribal communities residing in Sherpur Upazila of Bogura.

The conference, held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday (May 8th) at Sherpur Poura Shaheed Minar, announced plans to immediately apprehend attackers and looters targeting small tribal communities, withdraw false cases against them, ensure the safety of their livelihoods, and allocate designated khas lands, ponds, and temples confiscated from them back to the tribal communities. They announced that they will hold a sit-in program in front of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer's office on 13th May.

The president of the coordination committee, Santosh Singh, read out the declaration at the press conference.

Santosh Singh stated in his written statement that more than 20 incidents of house demolition, looting, encroachment on arable land and ponds, destruction of crematoriums and Kali temples, injuring over a hundred women and children, forcefully looting fish from ponds, harvesting crops, and attacking them have occurred against tribal communities since 2017.

Although only three of these allegations were accepted as lawsuits, the police have not yet arrested any perpetrators. Present at the press conference were Hari Shankar Saha, chairman of the Sherpur Upazila Committee of CPB, Shrikant Mahato, General Secretary of the Central Committee of Bangladesh Indigenous Union, Basudev Bagdi, President of Bangladesh Indigenous Forum Bogura District, and Kamal Singh, President of Sherpur Upazila Committee of Bangladesh Indigenous Union.