Int\\\'l Day of World\\\'s Indigenous Peoples being observed

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is being observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the globe today (Saturday). A roundtable was organised in the city on the eve of the day. Speakers at the roundtable sharply criticised the government for issuing a circular calling the media not to use the word ‘Adivasi’ (indigenous). ‘It’s very absurd claim that there are no ingenious people in the country. It’s also an arbitrary attitude that the indigenous people can’t be called as Adivasi,’ Advocate Sultana Kamal, Executive Director of Ain O Salish Kendra, told the programme held in the city. She criticised the government for issuing such a circular and condemned the move. ‘We must call them as Adivasis. Even we’re ready to get punished for calling that.’ Ain O Salish Kendra, Bangladeshi Adivasi Forum and 11 other non-government organisations jointly arranged the roundtable titled ‘Stopping Eviction of Adivasis from Their Lands and Protection of Their Human Rights: The Role of the State’, according to a news agency.