Abandon body of missionary killed by tribe, police urged
INDIAN police have been urged to abandon efforts to recover the body of an American missionary killed by an isolated tribe on a remote island, amid warnings any contact could have “catastrophic” consequences.
Survival International, an NGO working for tribal rights, said the Sentinelese people could be “wiped out” if outside diseases were introduced. Any such mission would also pose extreme danger to Indian officials, it said.
John Allen Chau was killed by the people of North Sentinel earlier this month after paying fisherman to smuggle him to the island, where outsiders are forbidden under Indian law.
The fishermen said they saw the Sentinelese bury his body on the beach. The 26-year-old left notes saying he wanted to bring Christianity to the tribe and knew he was risking his life. He also detailed an attempt at contact a day earlier, when he was forced off the island amid arrow fire. Believed to be the last pre-neolithic tribe in the world, there has been no significant contact with the Sentinelese for generations.
“The risk of a deadly epidemic of flu, measles or other outside disease is very real, and increases with every such contact,” Stephen Corry, the Survival International director, said in a statement yesterday.
“Such efforts in similar cases in the past have ended with the Sentinelese attempting to defend their island by force.”
He called for the weakening of restrictions on visiting the area to be revoked, and the exclusion zone around North Sentinel properly enforced.
A police boat approached the island on Friday and Saturday, on the latter occasion finding the tribespeople armed with spears and bows and arrows.
Chau’s family have said they have already forgiven the tribe, as well as the fishermen who aided his journey.