KOKRAJHAR: United Tribal Organizations of Assam (UTOA) on Tuesday demanded that the founder chairman of NDFB Ranjan Daimary who was one of the signatories of BTR Accord in 2020 should be given general amnesty along with his senior members who are still languishing in jail even after peace accord.
The president of UTOA Markush Basumatary said as per the guidelines and direction of the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people (UNDRIP) in 2019, the Asia Indigenous People’s Pact (AIPP) initiated the preparation for an intensive course for indigenous leaders, activists and intellectuals on self governance and democracy. He said the intended course was meant to help them gain a solid understanding of their present situation and build their capacity to facilitate discussions among their people for assessing democratic options and ways to improve the degree of self- determination of their communities. He also said after roughly two years of preparation, during which a course manual, a desk study on indigenous people’s customary governance, autonomy and self-government, and three case studies (In India, Malaysia and Nepal) were written, the first pilot course was launched in 2021.
Basumatary said in the pilot course the United Tribal Organization of Assam (UTOA) was invited by AIPP to join in the first training course 35 indigenous communities of Assam including Bodos. He said he represented the UTOA in the 9-day training course. He also said the AIPP organized the 2nd workshop of self-governance on July 23 to 27 in Chiang Mai in Thailand where he was invited and joined the workshop to share their present situation and experience in Assam. In this programme, participants from 27 different countries around the world participated. Being a representative of Bodoland, Assam, he shared about the present situation and raised the necessity of general amnesty for founder chairman of NDFB Ranjan Daimary along with 65 former members.
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