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| A refugee camp for Rohingyas in Kutubpalong |
Abdul Aziz, Cox's Bazar
February 07, 2017
Rohingyas residing in Cox's Bazar urged the Bangladesh
government to impose more pressure on Myanmar to let them back in.
They think they can return to their ancestral lands in
Myanmar through the cooperation of United Nations and other powerful nations.
Leaders of Rohingya refugees in different camps in Cox’s
Bazar expressed their thoughts to the Dhaka Tribune after hearing the
government’s recent plan to settle them in Thengarchar, in Hatia upazila in
Noakhali from Cox’s Bazar. This news was
met with strong disapproval by the people in the Teknaf-Ukhia refugee camps.
The recent crackdown on ethnic Rohingya Muslims in
northern Rakhine state by Myanmar’s military has forced 67,000 more Rohingyas
to flee to Bangladesh.
4.5lakh registered and unregistered Rohingyas are already
been residing in different parts of Cox’s Bazar.
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| The Rohingya refugees are desperately looking for a way to return to Myanmar Dhaka Tribune |
Rohingyas want to be resettled in Myanmar’s Rakhine state
instead. They want to go back to their predecessor’s land through international
negotiations even if the Myanmar government refuses to resettle them.
Rohingya representative Mohammad Yunus told the Dhaka
Tribune: “We heard Thengarchar is a very risky area and that is the reason we
don’t want to go there.”
When they were told Thengarchar was not dangerous, Yunus
replied: “We will still not go there.”
Mohammad asked for a UN-monitored area in the Rakhine
state for their resettlement.
Chairman of Kutupalong refugee camp Abu Siddique told the
Dhaka Tribune: “We have been waiting for justice for a long time. We would
rather drown in the Naf River than move to Thengarchar.”
“We would rather be sent to another country if Myanmar
refuses to allow us in. Otherwise, we are safe here in Cox’s Bazar,” Siddique
added.
“We can never pay back the debt to this country even with
our blood,” Chaiman of Teknaf’s Leda camp of unregistered Rohingyas Dudu Mia
said.
“So we urge the government of Bangladesh to take measures
to send us back to Myanmar instead of Hatia. We would be grateful to them
forever,” Dudu Mia added.
“Rohingyas are the main reason for all the troubles
throughout the country, including Cox’s Bazar. They have been associated with
criminal offences such as killing, mugging, larceny and terrorism,” said
President of the Rohingya Rehabilitation Committee and president of Awami
League in Ukhiya upazila Hamidul Haque Chowdhury.
Surprisingly enough, Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md
Ali Hossain claimed he did not know anything official about the relocation of
Rohingyas.
A Foreign Ministry press release reads more than 4lakh
Rohingyas are in Bangladesh illegally. They have been living in different
registered and unregistered camps located in Kutupalong, Balukhali, Noyapara,
Leda and Shamlapur in Ukhiya and Teknaf.
The government has announced plans to build shelters,
schools, hospitals, mosques and other establishments in Thengarchar and
relocate the Rohingyas to ensure them a better life.
However, hundreds of Rohingya Muslims tried to cross into
Bangladesh illegally after Myanmar troops launched a crackdown in the Rakhine
state in response to attacks on three border posts on October 9, 2016 that
killed nine police officers.
United Nations has already brought the allegation of
“ethnic cleansing” against Myanmar military forces. According to the UN, more
than 70,000 people have fled to Bangladesh since the beginning of the recent
crackdown.