DHAKA (AFP) - Hundreds of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh
to escape persecution in Myanmar have returned home, community leaders said
Sunday (Feb 19), adding that most had gone back temporarily to fetch relatives.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled across the border
from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since October to escape a bloody
crackdown by troops and police.
Dudu Mia, a refugee camp leader in the coastal town of
Teknaf, said nearly 1,000 Rohingya - mostly young men - had returned to their
home villages to collect elderly family members left behind earlier.
"Most of those men are hoping to bring their
relatives back to Bangladesh. It's been four months and they have barely even
talked to their parents back home," Mia told AFP.
Myanmar's army has halted its operations in the north of
Rakhine, a senior official said last week, ending the four-month crackdown
which the UN has warned may amount to crimes against humanity.
Hundreds from the Rohingya Muslim minority are thought to
have died and almost 70,000 have fled to Bangladesh since the military launched
a campaign to find militants who attacked police border posts.
Bangladeshi authorities estimate 400,000 Rohingya
refugees are now living in Bangladesh, including the 70,000 most recent
arrivals.
Escapees have given harrowing accounts of how security
forces raped, killed and tortured Rohingya and burnt their houses to the
ground.
Another Rohingya leader said some of the refugees had
left Bangladesh permanently because their home villages had not been damaged by
the Myanmar army and they had properties to protect.
"They left (their homes) because they were panicked.
They didn't want to stay here as beggars, rather they would live in their own
houses and work at land back home," he said on condition of anonymity.
The Border Guard Bangladesh confirmed that some Rohingya
refugees had gone back to Myanmar.
"Scores of Rohingya people have reportedly returned
home in last few days," said local commander Abujar al-Jahid.
"But we're remaining on high alert about any illegal
infiltration." A satellite image published last year by Human Rights Watch
showed how Myanmar troops burned down Rohingya villages, displacing thousands.
Most of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh are now
living in squalid conditions in refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar district,
which borders Rakhine and is also home to the country's biggest tourist resort.
Bangladesh has already approved a controversial plan for
their relocation to an island and instructed officials to identify undocumented
Myanmar nationals as part of the campaign.