In an attempt to make their presence felt, representatives of the indigenous people from the county's southern and northern regions assembled at the Diploma Engineers’ Institute in the capital Tuesday to put forward a nine-point charter of demand. In the wake of the 50th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, their representation should come as a rude awakening for the country’s think-tanks. That Bangla-speaking majority of the populace have so far been indiflerent, if not negligent, to the tribulation of the tribal minorities can be attributed to our majoritarian attitude. There involvement in the political, social and economical development processes has been marginal and so far we have not shown a decent degree of willingness to accommodate them, either. Why? The time has come to ask the question and raise the issue to the general public.

The indigenous people have so far been silent, expectantly waiting to be assimilated into the mainstream of national life with regard paid to their distinctiveness. Their hopes rest in the basic tenets of democracy — all citizens are equal, irrespective of their caste and religion. In reality, their hopes and expectations have been sometimes belied. Their patience started to wane, our indifference has not. Thus comes the rude awakening.

Better late than never. Our guilt of being indifferent to their hardship, can only be rectified by paying attention to their needs and demands. We nope that the government will immediately take their demands into consideration and address the issues raised according to their merits. Saying this, we would like to remind every conscious citizen that their grievances should not be a fodder for politics and that they should be addressed for the sake of better integration and harmony among all communities in Bangladesh.