By Dhaka Tribune
Over 6,500 Rohingya protesters from Tambru’s no man’s
land are reportedly among the 8,032 named in the initial repatriation list,
which Bangladesh handed over to Myanmar on Friday, reports Tarek Mahmud after
returning from Bandarban’s Ghumdum
The Rohingya refugees living in the no man’s land between
Myanmar’s Tambru and Bangladesh’s Konapara border areas and protesting the
repatriation process have found renewed justification for anxiety.
Demonstrating in Tambru’s no man’s land on Saturday and
Sunday, the refugees said they want the Myanmar government to accede to their
demands, including ensuring their safety and rights, before they are sent back.
Dil Mohammed and Arif Hossain, two Rohingya leaders of
the area, claimed that Myanmar army and Mogh extremists were still bulldozing
Rohingya houses, villages, and markets, as well as torturing those who are still
living in the Rakhine state.
They said: “The Rohingyas of no man’s land feel
threatened and concerned that putting their names in the repatriation list will
be put them at risk again.”
The protesters demanded deployment of UN peacekeeping
force in Rakhine’s Rohingya majority areas and recognition of the Rohingyas as
citizens of Myanmar.
They also want international organizations and media to
be engaged in the repatriation process and monitor the overall situation, along
with the full implementation of the recommendations made in the report of the
Kofi Anan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and the five-point proposal
of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Dil Mohammad said the refugees would not go back to their
homeland until their demands are met.
Over 6,500 Rohingya protesters from Tambru’s no man’s
land are reportedly among the 8,032 named in the initial repatriation list,
which the Bangladesh government handed over to Myanmar on Friday.
The Dhaka Tribune could not independently verify the
reports, but repatriating the Rohingyas living in this area first was discussed
during the home minister-level meeting of both countries Friday.
The Rohingyas in the no man’s land have been subjected to
intimidating efforts by Myanmar security forces over the past few months. But
the situation worsened after Myanmar’s Deputy Home Minister Major General Aung
Soe visited the Tambru border area on February 8.
Since that visit, the Myanmar army and Border Guard
Police (BGP), using loudspeakers, have asked the Rohingyas to return to Rakhine
from the no man’s land. But at night, the Myanmar army reportedly fires blanks
to scare them and stop them from going back.
“We used to escape to Bangladesh territory at night and
return at day. But now the army and BGP are giving warnings over loudspeakers
every hour,” said Siddique Ahmad, an old Rohingya man living in the no man’s
land.
On Saturday night, Myanmar security forces issued
instructions about repatriating the Rohingyas from the no man’s land, prompting
at least 50 of them to cross over into Bangladesh, where they were detained by
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). They were later sent to a refugee camp with
basic provisions.
“The Rohingyas of the no man’s land are under strict BGB
surveillance,” Lt Col Khalid Hasan, director (operations) of BGB’s Cox’s Bazar
Ad-hoc Region, told the Dhaka Tribune.
After a Myanmar army crackdown in Rakhine started in
August 25 last year, over 6,500 Rohingya people from Tambru, Medipara,
Raimongkhali, Deybuinna, Laipuiya, Ponduiya, Khuyangcipong villages and
Maungdaw’s Panirchora had moved to that no man’s land and been living there, a
place that is adjacent to Naikhongchhari’s Ghumdum border in Bandarban.
Since then, more than 10,000 Rohingyas have sought
shelter in the no man’s land bordering Ghumdum union’s Konarpara area, Sadar
union’s Sapmara Jhiri, Boro Chonkhola, and Dochhari union’s Bahir Math area
under Naikhongchhari.
In January, all the Rohingyas living in the no man’s land
were taken to the Rohingya camps at Ukhiya’s Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar. However,
the refugees living in the Konarpara bordering areas, despite promises that
they would be taken too, are still living in Tambru.
The government’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation
Commission said nearly 700,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh till February 11
fleeing the brutal persecution termed as “ethnic cleansing” by the UN. They
joined the several hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who had been living in
two upazilas of Cox’s Bazar for years.
Dhaka and Naypyidaw have signed an agreement to send the
Rohingyas back to their homeland. After signing a bilateral deal in November
last year, the repatriation process was scheduled to begin last month, but got
delayed.