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Death of US Tourist: Indian Tribal Panel Asks Sentinel Island be made Inviolable

© REUTERS / John Chau Social MediaAn American self-styled adventurer and Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, has been killed and buried by a tribe of hunter-gatherers on a remote island in the Indian Ocean where he had gone to proselytize, according to local law enforcement officials, in this undated image obtained from a social media on November 23, 2018.
An American self-styled adventurer and Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, has been killed and buried by a tribe of hunter-gatherers on a remote island in the Indian Ocean where he had gone to proselytize, according to local law enforcement officials, in this undated image obtained from a social media on November 23, 2018. - Sputnik International
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The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has underscored the need for ensuring that North Sentinel Island, inhabited by aboriginal tribes that recently allegedly killed an American tourist, is 'inviolable' so that such incidences do not occur in the future.

New Delhi (Sputnik): India's National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), under the chairmanship of Dr Nand Kumar Sai, on Wednesday, reviewed the reports submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Andaman and Nicobar islands' administration on the killing of an American national by the aboriginal Sentinelese Tribe on an island where there are restrictions on the entry of outsiders. The chairperson of the commission reiterated that all necessary steps must be taken by the government to maintain 'Inviolability of the North Sentinel Island'.

'The Chairperson, NCST expressed that following the unfortunate incident, the vulnerability of Sentinelese tribes in North Sentinel Island has increased many folds, and any aggressive steps to recover the body will adversely disturb the peace and tranquillity in the island,' the Indian government's statement reads.

In this Nov. 14, 2005 file photo, clouds hang over the North Sentinel Island, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands. An American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows, Indian police said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. - Sputnik International
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Indian Police Map Area Where American John Chau Was Killed by Sentinelese Tribe
American national John Allen Chau arrived in the area on October 16, staying on another island while preparing for his trip to North Sentinel Island. Reports suggested that he paid a handful of fishermen roughly $325 to take him to the restricted island. Chau was killed on November 17, based on the account of the fishermen who had taken him to the island, hiding from the glare of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. The fishermen said they saw a body being buried on the shore on November 17, which, from the clothing and circumstances, appeared to be that of Chau. 

READ MORE: Indian Aboriginal Tribesmen Kill American Allegedly on Faith Conversion Mission

Meanwhile, the Indian government has made it clear that no aggressive measures will be undertaken on the island to retrieve the body of Chau. 

An American self-styled adventurer and Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, has been killed and buried by a tribe of hunter-gatherers on a remote island in the Indian Ocean where he had gone to proselytize, according to local law enforcement officials, in this undated image obtained from a social media on November 23, 2018. - Sputnik International
Asia
Indian Police Search For Suspects Who Aided American Man to Reach Remote Island
It has constituted a 5-member committee under the chairmanship of secretary (Tribal Welfare) of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to review the institutional mechanism to prevent the landing of foreign nationals on the North Sentinel Island and to suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future. The committee will submit its report within 30 days.

The Sentinelese, whom scholars believe are descendants of Africans who migrated to the area about 50,000 years ago, survive on the small, forested island by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants. Almost nothing is known of their lives, except that they attack outsiders with spears or bows and arrows.

In 2006, the Sentinelese tribe killed two fishermen and propped up their bodies on bamboo stakes. The entire North Sentinel Island, which measures 59.67 sq. km including the coastal area extending up to 5k m from the high water mark, has been declared a Tribal Reserve.

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