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TN Pandit
A photo of Mr. Pandit giving a coconut to a sentinel man in 1991
Few people know more about the Sentinels than the Indian anthropologist T N Pandit.
As the regional head of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs of India, Mr. Pandit visited isolated sites in their isolated island community for several decades.
The tribe, which has been living in near total isolation for tens of thousands of years, caught the attention of the world last week after apparently killing a 27-year-old American missionary aspirant who was trying to get in touch with them.
But Mr. Pandit, now 84, says, through his experience, that the group is largely "peaceful" and believes their terrible reputation is unfair.
"In the course of our exchanges, they threatened us but they never reached the point of killing or injuring … Every time they were agitated, we recoiled," he told the World BBC service.
"I am very sad for the death of this young man from America, but he made a mistake, he was lucky enough to flee, but he persisted and paid with his life."
Mr. Pandit first went on the island of North Sentinel, only inhabited by the tribe, in 1967 within an expedition group.
Initially, the sentinels hid in the jungle and then, on subsequent journeys, shot them arrows.
He added that anthropologists would bring with them a selection of objects during their travels to try to attract contact.
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Survival International
There are few images of the threatened tribe
"We brought pots and pans, large quantities of coconut, iron tools such as hammers and long knives, and we had three men from Onge (another local tribe) with us. help us to "interpret" the speech and behavior of the Sentinels, "he recalled in an essay on his visits.
"But the sentinel warriors have confronted us with angry and sinister faces and are fully armed with their long bows and arrows, all ready to defend their country."
Despite little success, they would leave gifts to try to build relationships with the mysterious community.
In one case, he said that they knew that a living group of pig attached that they had offered was clearly unappreciated by the group when they quickly shot the animal to dead and buried in the sand.
Contact
After several expeditions attempting to make contact, their first real advance was in 1991, when the tribe came out to approach peacefully in the ocean.
"We were surprised to know why they allowed us," he said. "It was their decision to meet us and the meeting took place on their terms."
"We jumped off the boat and we stood up in the water up to the neck, handing out coconuts and other gifts.But we were not allowed to enter on their island. "
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TN Pandit
Mr. Pandit (right) worked for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs of India
Mr. Pandit said he did not fear being attacked, but that he was always cautious when he was close to them.
He added that members of their team had tried to communicate in sign language with the Sentinelese, but to no avail, as they were largely concerned about their gifts.
"They were talking to each other but we could not understand their language, it was very similar to the languages spoken by other tribal groups in the region," said Pandit.
& # 39; Not welcome & # 39;
During an extremely tense exchange during the trip, a young member of the tribe threatened him.
"When I gave the coconuts, I got a little separate from the rest of my team and started getting closer to the shore," he told the BBC.
"A young sentinel boy made a funny face, took his knife and made me understand that he would cut off my head.I immediately called the boat and made a quick retreat,"
"The boy's gesture is significant, he clearly indicated that I was not welcome."
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The Indian government has since abandoned gift shipments and banned foreigners from approaching the island.
The complete isolation of the Sentinel inhabitants means that any contact with the outside world could expose them to a deadly risk of disease, as they would probably not be immune to even common diseases such as influenza and measles.
Mr. Pandit stated that his group members were still pre-screened for possible communicable diseases and that only healthy people were allowed to travel to North Sentinel.
According to officials, Chau, who was killed last week, did not get any official permission for his trip.
He would rather have paid 25,000 rupees ($ 354) to the local fisherman to illegally take him to the island in hopes of converting the tribe to Christianity.
An effort is currently underway to try to recover the body of the American – what Mr Pandit has suggested might be possible with a tentative approach of officials.
Despite his own experience of tense exchanges with the Sentinels, Mr. Pandit resists calling them hostile.
"It's the wrong way of looking at things, we are the aggressors here," he told the Indian Express. "We are the ones who try to enter their territory."
"The Sentinels are a peaceful people, they do not try to attack people, they do not visit the surrounding areas and do not cause disturbances, it's a rare incident," he told the BBC. .
Mr. Pandit says that he is supportive of the reestablishment of friendly gift-gathering missions with the tribe, but says that they should not be bothered.
"We should respect their wish to remain alone," he said.
This view is shared by conservation groups such as Survival International, who have implored local authorities to abandon their attempts to locate Chau's body.
