Irresponsible act in foreign land led to death

THE recent incident of the unfortunate brutal murder of a young American tourist in a remote island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago (India) at the hands of an isolated primitive tribe is an example of how misadventure and irresponsibility led to the demise of a dream and ended a precious life.

The tragic incident should be an eye-opener for all around the globe, particularly young adults who feel they can achieve anything they set out to do.

Similarly, irresponsible tourist behaviour in foreign nations and in completely unknown terrains must be avoided to prevent repetitions of such sad incidents.

Furthermore, an individual or a community (particularly isolated primitive tribes) have the complete right to protect their privacy and integrity of their socio-ethnic lifestyle. The young adventurer was probably identified as an intruder into their territorial domain.

Several ancient tribal communities around the world are facing dangers of extinction. Such isolated tribal members are extremely vulnerable to diseases and infections from civilized people due to poor immunity and should be left alone and respected for their socio-ethnic lifestyle.

Only scientific studies under special circumstances and following international guidelines and protocol should be allowed.

Lastly, individual countries must have stringent monitoring and surveillance on their forbidden territories. The Andaman and Nicobar administration also cannot avoid responsibility in protecting the privacy and serenity of the ancient tribal communities surviving in its remote islands.

We all need to learn from this unfortunate incident and try to be more responsible towards local ethnic and ecological sensitivity as well as government guidelines while visiting another country as tourists.