GUWAHATI: Representatives of 26 indigenous tribes from seven continents have gathered in Kenya, calling for the release of Assam-based indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley and seeking justice for indigenous and Adivasi families involved in a land dispute near Kaziranga National Park.
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Doley, convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee, was arrested on July 12 in connection with protests against a proposed luxury hotel project at Inglay Pathar near Kaziranga.
He was granted bail by a Golaghat court on July 29. However, a day later, on July 30, the Assam government’s Political (A) Department invoked Section 3(2) of the National Security Act, 1980, directing that Doley remain in preventive detention at Golaghat District Jail.
The case is linked to opposition from several indigenous and Adivasi families to the proposed luxury hotel project. The families have claimed that they have been cultivating and using the disputed land for generations.
The dispute has since grown into a wider discussion around indigenous land rights, community consent and development in the Kaziranga landscape.
Doley has been involved in advocacy on indigenous rights and land-related issues in Assam. At the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva last year, he called on governments and businesses to protect indigenous communities from the impacts of development.
In recent years, a significant part of his work has focused on opposing the proposed luxury hotel project near Kaziranga.
The gathering of indigenous representatives in Kenya has now brought international attention to the dispute, with participants calling for Doley’s release and justice for the affected indigenous and Adivasi families.