Sudan crisis: Members of Indian nomadic tribe Hakki-Pikki stranded amid conflict, seek rescue

In the midst of heavy combat between Sudan's army and a paramilitary group, it is reported that 3,000 Indians are stranded there.

Around 100 members of the nomadic Hakki-Pikki tribe from the southern state of Karnataka are included in this figure since they travelled to Sudan to trade in natural medicines and goods.

After India's foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, accused an opposition Congress lawmaker of "playing politics" when he tweeted a request to ensure their safe return to India, the situation they were in had generated a political debate in that nation.

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Their issue had caused an uproar in India after S Jaishankar, the foreign minister of the country accused a Congress opposition leader of "playing politics" when he tweeted an appeal to ensure their safe return to India.

Some Hakki-Pikki tribal members in Sudan who spoke with BBC Hindi claimed they were living in dread and had limited access to necessities like food and water.

While the majority of them are in the capital Khartoum, where fighting is fierce, others are in the western city of Al-Fashir, which is almost 1,000 kilometres from Khartoum.

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The battle, which isongoing since last week, is the consequence of a struggle for dominance between the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary organisation, and the Sudanese regular army.

Uncertainty surrounds the number of deaths brought on by the conflict, although the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said on Tuesday that at least 174 civilians died in the battle.

"It is extremely scary. Heavy firing takes place nearby, mainly in the mornings and evenings. It continues late into the night," Prabhu S, a member of the Hakki-Pikki tribe who is in Al-Fashir, told the BBC Hindi.

"`We are living in a hotel where the employees went away five days ago, soon after the fighting started," says Sanju Pitaji, who is stuck in Khartoum.

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"We are surviving on some leftover bread and drinking water from the tap in the washroom. Ten of us are living in this room," he says.

Who are the Hakki-Pikkis?

In Karnataka, there are roughly 12,000 Hakki-Pikkis, according to the 2011 Census. The Kannada word "Hakki-Pikki" refers to bird hunters, but after bird hunting was outlawed in India in the 1970s, tribe members turned to creating herbal medicines to make ends meet.

They frequently travel with their families to sell these goods in nations like Sudan, Singapore, and Malaysia, according to DrDC Nanjunda, an anthropologist and deputy director at the University of Mysore's Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, who spoke to the BBC.

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