By Kamran Reza Chowdhury (Benar News)
Bangladesh has the necessary forms to begin the process
of repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Myanmar and will start
collecting data next week, the nation’s refugee relief commissioner told
BenarNews on Wednesday.
Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said he had received the
forms earlier this week and would lead a committee collecting the information
required by Myanmar.
In late November, the two neighboring nations agreed to
begin the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees to their home state of
Rakhine, in Myanmar, by Jan. 22.
“Hopefully, we can start collecting data sought in the
repatriation form beginning after Sunday,” Kalam said.
His office will employ staff to collect the data, he
said, adding that the forms would not be distributed among the refugees.
“We have already formed a nine-member technical committee
to collect the data about the potential returnees. The committee includes
members from the home ministry, disaster management ministry, bureau of statics
and other relevant departments of the government,” said Kalam, leader of the
technical committee.
“We maintain a database of the Myanmar nationals entering
Bangladesh. We will match the data collected with the database before handing
the filled forms over to the Myanmar,” he said.
Repatriation will begin after the Myanmar government
verifies data including name, age, gender, parents, children and home village.
Bangladesh officials expect to hand over about 100,000 Rohingya in the first
phase.
Kalam responded to questions from BenarNews after a
Myanmar official said that his government was waiting for Bangladesh to send
the completed forms to start the verification process before repatriation can
begin.
“We have sent the forms for the refugees to fill out, but
we haven’t received any of the [completed] ones from Bangladesh yet,” Myint
Kyaing, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Labor, Immigration, and
Population under Myanmar’s civilian-led government, told Radio Free Asia (RFA),
a sister entity of BenarNews, this week.
“We are ready to accept them back,” he added. “We will
begin doing so on the day we receive the forms from Bangladesh.”
Repatriation agreement
On Nov. 23, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the agreement
stipulating that repatriation would begin within two months. At that time, the
governments agreed to form a 30-member joint working group, headed by their
foreign secretaries, to oversee the process.
The working group has not held its first meeting.
Myanmar has proposed holding it on Jan. 9, but Bangladesh
officials have not responded to the proposal, a Bangladesh foreign ministry
official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh’s state minister for foreign
affairs, told BenarNews that the first meeting could take place by Jan. 15, a
week before the first Rohingya are due to leave for Myanmar.
“The joint working group meeting can take place either in
Bangladesh or Myanmar,” Manjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury, the director general
in-charge of the Southeast Asia desk at the foreign ministry, told BenarNews.
More than 655,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh since Aug.
25, 2017, amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s military that followed
coordinated attacks carried out by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)
insurgents on security posts in Rakhine state.
Human rights groups and Rohingya refugees have accused
Myanmar military personnel and civilian militia of committing widespread
atrocities against Rohingya civilians during the crackdown. The United Nations
and United States have described the situation as “ethnic cleansing,” but
Myanmar officials have denied that its forces committed atrocities.
The repatriation agreement includes tens of thousands of
Rohingya who fled Myanmar following an outbreak in violence in October 2016 as
well, driving the number of refugees who are eligible to return home to as many
as 700,000.
In all, about one million Rohingya are sheltering in
southeastern Bangladesh, where they are mostly concentrated in refugee camps in
and around Cox’s Bazar district.
“Repatriation does not happen overnight; it is time
consuming. We will provide Myanmar necessary data from here. They can return
only when the Myanmar government gives green light after verification,” said
Chowdhury, a member of the joint committee.
Abdul Masood, a Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh with his
wife and three children late last year, told BenarNews that he would not return
to Myanmar, and feared being forced to do so.
“If we are sent back, there is no hope for us. We will
all be killed, or worse, tortured to death. Ask any Rohingya, and they will
tell you they don’t want to go back, no matter the promises the Myanmar
government makes regarding our safety,” Masood, 28, told BenarNews last week.
Curfew: ‘To ensure people’s safety’
Last week, Myanmar authorities announced they would
process returning refugees during daylight hours only because of an extended
curfew in the Rakhine state.
Returning refugees who will be processed at two reception
centers in Taung Pyo Let Wae and Nga Khu Ya villages must adhere to the curfew,
meaning they cannot go out after 6 p.m., Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s minister
in-charge of social welfare, relief and resettlement, told RFA.
“Authorities did it to ensure people’s safety,” he said.
Kalam, the refugee relief commissioner in Bangladesh,
told BenarNews that his government likely would not oppose the curfew enforced
on the other side of the border.
“The repatriation is our focus, no matter whether it
takes place by day or at night. We will discuss the proposal at the joint
working group and decide,” Kalam said.
Meanwhile, some Rohingya refugees expressed mixed views
over the issue.
“I do not see any problem. Daytime is better. Risks of
snake and insect bites are there. Besides, women and children may go missing at
night,” Mohammad Hafez told BenarNews in a phone call from Ukhia, a
sub-district of Cox’s Bazar.
A Rohingya who was repatriated at night in 1993 and asked
to remain anonymous, gave a different opinion.
“Myanmar wants to limit the number of returnees. A lesser
number of people will go if repatriation only takes place by daytime. This is
their strategy to delay our return,” he told BenarNews.