Dhaka Tribune, 05-11-2017
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC)
predicted that around 1,000 more refugees would enter Bangladesh on Sunday
The influx of Rohingya pouring into Bangladesh from
Myanmar is gradually slowing down, but a significant number of refugees are
still waiting at the border areas to escape from the Rakhine state.
“On November 2 and 3, a total 5,500 Rohingya entered the
country through the Anjuman Para border crossing. They were sent to the
Rohingya camps at Ukhiya upazila,” Cox’s Bazar Adhoc Region Director
(Operation) of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Hasan
told the Dhaka Tribune.
He added that after the massive influx in late August and
at the beginning of September, the mass exodus of Rohingya slowed down for some
time. But, more refugees started entering Bangladesh since mid-October.
“We allowed the fleeing Rohingya people to enter the
country on humanitarian grounds, after checking them at the border,” said the
senior BGB official said.
Meanwhile, several BGB soldiers posted along Anjuman
Para, Gumdhum, Unchiprang, and Shah Porir Dwip border areas said scores of
Rohingya refugees, who have entered Bangladesh since mid-October, crossed over
to the country at night.
After analysing the refugee movement pattern,
Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), predicted that
around 1,000 more refugees would enter Bangladesh on Sunday.
This correspondent spoke to a Rohingya man, Bashir Ahmed,
over the phone to gain some insight about the situation. Bashir is now waiting
at the border region in Myanmar for an opportunity to enter Bangladesh.
Bashir, a native of Sikdarpara area under Maungdaw
township, has been waiting in Daungkhali Char of Maungdaw for the past 15 days.
“About 14,000 Rohingya from Maungdaw, Buthidaung and
Rathedaung townships are waiting for last two weeks to enter Bangladesh. Most
of them came here with nothing but some food,” he said.
“We tried our best to live in our homeland, despite the
increasing oppressive behaviour of the Myanmar army and the Mogh people. But in
the end, we had to flee Myanmar because our lives were at stake.”
Bashir’s brother Yasir Arafat, who helped this
correspondent to communicate with his stranded family member, gave more details
on the matter.
“I managed to enter Bangladesh with ten of my family
members, including my mother. However, 20 more members of my family, including
my father and brother are still stranded at Daungkhali Char,” he said.
Another refugee named Jahed Sharif, a native of Maungdaw
who arrived at Balukhali refugee camp on October 31, claimed that the Myanmar
government had been pressuring the Rohingya in Rakhine state to accept National
Verification Cards (NVCs).
“The NVCs are a trap, the Myanmar government wants to rob
us of our properties,” Jahed said.
Jahed also said those among the Rohingya refusing to
accept the NVCs, are being imprisoned and fined en masse by the Myanmar
government.
He added: “The army and Moghs also threatened to kill us,
if we refuse to accept the card. For this reason the influx of refugees spiked
after an interval.”
Tajul Islam, another refugee from Maungdaw, claimed that
he paid 300,000 kyat to his local army camp authorities to save himself, after
the army picked him up on charge of not accepting NVC.
According to the RRRC, around 621,000 Rohingya have
entered Bangladesh from August 25 to November 4, after being displaced by a
brutal campaign of terror perpetrated by the Myanmar army and their Mogh
cohorts.
