Ruma Paul, Clare
Baldwin
DHAKA (Reuters) -
Representatives from Bangladesh and Myanmar will meet on Tuesday to discuss the
repatriation to Myanmar of more than 6,500 Rohingya Muslims trapped on a strip
of unclaimed land between the two countries, Bangladeshi officials said.
“It is about taking
them back to Myanmar,” Relief and Refugee Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad
Abul Kalam, told Reuters on Monday. “They are on the zero line and actually on
the Myanmar side.”
However, several
officials contacted in neighbouring Myanmar said they were not aware of plans
for a meeting, which Kalam said would take place on the “zero line” near a
place called Gundum.
A spokeswoman for
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which will not be
involved in the talks, said the agency was concerned the Rohingya may be
forcibly returned to Myanmar without due consideration for their safety.
Nearly 700,000
Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state and crossed into Bangladesh since
last August, when attacks on security posts by insurgents triggered a military
crackdown that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing, with
reports of arson attacks, murder and rape.
Buddhist-majority
Myanmar denied the charge and says its security forces are fighting a
legitimate campaign against “terrorists” it blames for the attacks on the
security forces.
The vast majority of
Rohingya who fled are in camps at Cox’s Bazar on the southern tip of
Bangladesh, but several thousand who arrived in a buffer zone along the border
are now stuck.
Bangladesh security
forces have been instructed not to let these Rohingya cross the border, and
many of them have said they would rather stay there to avoid becoming refugees
in Bangladesh.
The no-man’s land,
which is about the size of 40 football pitches, used to be an area of paddy
fields, but is now dotted with the tarpaulin and bamboo shacks of displaced
Rohingya. NO TIMELINE FOR RETURNS
“We are concerned
about the reports of pressures directed at this group of people at the border,”
said Caroline Gluck, UNHCR Senior Public Information Officer at Cox’s Bazar.
“People who fled
violence and discrimination in Myanmar should not be forced to return against
their will,” she told Reuters in a message sent on Saturday.
Bangladesh’s Kalam
said there was no timeline for repatriations, that anyone going back must do so
voluntarily and that Myanmar must provide a safe environment for their return.
“We cannot send them
forcibly,” he said.
Most Burmese
consider the Rohingya as unwanted immigrants from Bangladesh, and the army
refers to them as “Bengalis”.
Myanmar has said it
will accept back people holding “national verification” registration cards.
This card, which falls short of offering citizenship, has been rejected by
Rohingya community leaders who say it treats life-long residents like new
immigrants.
A leader of the
Rohingya group in the buffer zone, Dil Mohammed, told Reuters in a text
message: “Our no-man’s land camp demands are that there must be a safe return,
we need security and all basic rights, including citizenship.”
He said the group
would never accept the national verification card, that its members must be
allowed to return to their own homes, paid compensation for losses and damage,
and provided with protection from a U.N. mission.
Gluck said the UNHCR
was concerned that conditions in Rakhine state were not yet safe for voluntary
returns, adding, “We urge both governments to ensure that any return is based
on informed consent and takes place in safety and dignity.”