rightwinger
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- Aug 4, 2009
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He was a missionaryThere is a cluster of Islands called Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal, India. These islands were inhabited by first migrants out of Africa. They have lived here for more than 66K years in complete isolation till Brits first started to mess with them when India was under British occupation. Encounter between Brits and the tribes was very brutal; many of them were massacred by British explorers. This is why the tribes do not trust outsiders. Anyway, British capitalized the dangerous nature of these islands by using it as a place to exile Indian nationalists. Any Indian who was found guilty of engaging in activities to liberate India from British occupation was sentenced to these islands. This was a certain death.
India became a free nation in 1947. After the independence, Indian government officials have started a patient campaign to integrate these tribes into Indian union. This campaign has resulted in integration of all the tribes into India except the Sentinelese tribe. Indian government is working patiently to make a breakthrough with these folks. Outsiders going there and provoking the tribe makes the task of government more difficult.
Indian officials have learned the languages spoken on other Islands of Andaman and Nicobar. However, neither of those languages are understood by the Sentinelese tribe. This makes the task harder for the government officials. Indian government cannot go in there with guns blazing because they are Indian citizens and Indian laws will not allow this.
So to protect the tribe and anyone who may come into contact with them, India has declared the entire Sentinel Island, a protected area. This means no one is allowed to visit this Island - not even Indians. If you are an Indian citizen, you can visit other islands on Andaman and Nicobar.
It is sad that people like John Chau think that it is OK to toy with a group of humans who have been isolated for 66K years. It is more sad that CNN called Mr Chau a missionary thereby demeaning the real missionaries.
Just not a very good one