By Reuters
The reporter, from the southern corner of
Bangladesh that has become home to the world’s largest refugee settlement, said
he wrote accounts of the traumatized, exhausted Rohingya and did what he could
to help.
“All the people did it,” said Azad, in his office
near a bustling market outside the town of Cox's Bazar.
Rohingya were driven from their villages in
Myanmar into Bangladesh in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, fleeing what they
said was persecution at the hands of the Myanmar military.
H.T. Imam, an adviser to Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, accused "foreign forces" of mobilising the Rohingya
against Bangladesh's interests. He called the role of international aid
agencies "mysterious".
When more than 730,000 Rohingya fled into
Bangladesh from Myanmar in 2017, Bangladeshi journalist Sharif Azad was
sympathetic to the plight of his fellow Muslims, survivors of a military-led
crackdown the United Nations has branded genocide.
"We provided the food. We provided
land.”
Two years on, Azad runs a campaign against
the Rohingya, aiming to see them confined to their camps behind barbed wire
until they can be sent back to Myanmar.
“We will continue our movement until
repatriation happens,” said Azad, who said his group now has 1,000 members, and
is one of several that have sprung up with the same aims.
Most Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship
in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are regarded as interlopers, illegal
immigrants from South Asia.
But the latest influx has been the biggest.
Myanmar denies accusations of genocide. It
says its armed forces have carried out legitimate operations against Rohingya
militants who attacked security forces.
In Bangladesh, the deterioration of relations
between the "host" community and the newcomers has been so
precipitous some now fear serious violence.
Human Rights abuses on Rohingya in Myanmar by
@P4HR: https://lnkd.in/g3atTbX
"I've lived to see three influxes and
this is the worst,” said Bangladeshi labourer Khadir Hussein, 60, in a tea shop
in the border town of Teknaf.
“We feel if they attack us, how will we
survive? We're a minority in our land.”
'TAKING MEASURES'
Many Bangladeshis accuse the Rohingya of
crime, taking jobs and pushing down wages.
Once-lush forests have been cleared for the
camps and the road to Cox's Bazar, the nearest major town, is clogged with aid
trucks. A trip that used to take an hour can now take four on rutted, broken
roads.
Recently, a hundreds-strong mob blocked roads
and destroyed shops frequented by Rohingya as well as some U.N. offices, in a
protest against the killing of a Bangladeshi ruling party youth leader.
Several Rohingya accused of involvement in
the murder were later shot dead in what the police said were gunfights.
Senior Cox’s Bazar police official
Iqbal Hossain said there had been a rise in crime, though the rate among
refugees was no higher than that among Bangladeshis. He acknowledged the
growing animosity towards the refugees.
"This is going to be tough to control so
many people,” he said. “The government is taking measures to prevent any
untoward situation.”
In a bamboo camp shelter, four refugees who
asked not to be identified said they had fled from their homes after the recent
mob attack, scrambling to gather children and belongings, in a state of terror
they likened to their panicked flight from Myanmar.
"When we came here, we came to
save our lives,” said one refugee, his voice shaking "but here, we're not
safe. We're very afraid.”
Bangladesh has said all of the Rohingya must
go home but not one agreed to last month in a second bid to get a repatriation
process going. Refugees cite fears of violence and persecution back in Myanmar.
'BAD ELEMENTS'
With tension between the communities rising,
authorities have clamped down, cutting the internet in the camps and trying to
confiscate phones, citing security concerns. The sale of phone SIM cards to
refugees has been forbidden.
Mobile network blocked in Rohingya refugee
camps in Bangladesh: https://lnkd.in/giTdprG
"It is becoming clear there are
unwanted people and bad elements among the Rohingyas, and they have been used
by foreign forces,” HT Imam said. "The camps should be surrounded by
barbed wire to stop all ... criminal activities.”
UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck said in an
email the agency "would recommend the adoption of security measures that
do not impact upon the ability of refugees to access basic services and rights
and live safely".
Regarding the communication restrictions, she
said: "Technology has been an important way for the refugees to
communicate with family and friends, and humanitarian agencies to disseminate
and access information.”
But technology has also been used to fuel
fear and suspicion.
A flurry of rumours about Rohingya and
international aid groups has appeared on Facebook and in newspapers.
In August, Azad posted a photo on Facebook
showing piles of sharp objects and accused a non-governmental group of hiring
the shop making them to arm refugees. The post was shared hundreds of times.
But staff at the shop told Reuters the tools
were not weapons and the Bangladeshi NGO caught up in the affair said they were
weeding tools for villagers.
The febrile atmosphere is contributing to a
sense of despair.
“They have the pen, they have the gun
and they have a country. I have nothing,” one Rohingya man told Reuters. “Please
pray for us,” he said.
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Don’t forget to read more below:
UN FFM Report: 600,000 Rohingya still in
Myanmar at 'serious risk of genocide': https://lnkd.in/grp4Gvg
Can China Able to Help Find a Durable
Solution for the Rohingya Refugees Crisis? https://lnkd.in/g6qy_qK