---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ashley tellis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Nov 30, 2007 2:44 AM Subject: Petition
Dear Friends, Following is a petition against the shocking brutality faced by protesting Adivasis demanding ST status. If you wish to add your name to it, please send us your name, designation, and organsiation at the earliest so that it could be submitted to the Governor, Assam, National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women. The signatures of people who have already signed are being put here. You may email your consent to any of the following addresses: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] In solidarity, Manisha To The Governor, Assam We, the undersigned, express our outrage and shock at the brutal attack and lynching of tribal protestors in Guwahati on 24 November 2007, when they were taking out a rally demanding the granting of Schedule Tribe status to them. What was particularly gruesome and repugnant was the targeted assault on women and the forced public stripping of a tribal woman by the mob, with onlookers clicking away photographs of the hapless woman. The rally, called by an Adivasi student's organisation, had assembled in Guwahati and saw the participation of thousands of demonstrators. It reflects the widespread sense of dispossession and deprivation amongst the Tea tribes, as well as anger at the repeated betrayals by state governments of Assam, who have continued to deny them the ST status. Despite prior information about the rally, the administration failed to make adequate security arrangements. Faced with jeering by local shopkeepers in the vicinity of the protest and the ethnically explosive atmosphere, a section of the protestors turned violent, upon which the police first lathicharged the demonstrators, and then left them at the mercy of an ethnically motivated, violent mob. Since then, photographs of unconscious and bleeding tribal protestors being kicked and attacked have appeared in the media, exposing the scale of brutality unleashed by the mob, presided over by the police. This has left us all angered and shocked. It also raises fears about the safety of women in democratic struggles, especially women from tribal communities, who are singled out for sexual abuse, as was on evidence in Guwahati. While the tea tribes have already won the status of the Scheduled Tribe in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa, successive state governments in Assam have turned a deaf ear to this demand. Though the Congress had assured the tea tribes of the ST status during elections, its government in Assam has refused to budge on this issue. The rally of tea-tribes in Guwahati was against this betrayal by the Congress government. By even refusing to ensure the safety of the demonstrating tribal students in Guwahati, the state government has poured oil on the already ethnically volatile atmosphere in Assam. We demand that: - The historic deprivation suffered by the tea tribes of Assam be rightfully recognized and they be included in the Scheduled Tribes category - The culpability of the police officers who presided over the lathicharge and mob violence be fixed and they be duly punished - The perpetrators of the violence, especially those involved in assaults on women protestors be identified and given exemplary punishment - Adequate compensation to those injured in the attack - Compensation to the female protestor who suffered public stripping Signed by Radhika Menon, Convenor, Forum for Democratic Initiatives Manisha Sethi, Jamia Miillia Islamia Ahmad Sohaib, Jamia Miillia Islamia Tanweer Fazal, Jamia Millia Islamia Lata Singh, Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies Vasanti Raman, Fellow, CWDS Atashi Sengupta, Transplant Coordinator, St. Stephen's Hospital --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
