Rights group calls on Bangladesh to end
restrictions on Rohingya refugees’ freedom of movement, access to the internet
By Anadolu Agency
Following a failed attempt to repatriate
Rohingya refugees to Myanmar last month, Bangladesh has started mounting
pressure on the persecuted community.
A top Bangladeshi official told Anadolu
Agency that Dhaka might be inflexible in addressing the Rohingya crisis in the
future and lambasted the international community for showing “less interest” to
help resolve the Rohingya issue.
"Until now, they [the international
community] have failed to visit those villages in Rakhine state [in western
Myanmar] from where Rohingya people fled, but they are randomly working in
Bangladesh without any interruption. Ignoring existing law and norms some, NGOs
and aid agencies are infiltrating Rohingya to stay in Bangladesh. We must be
harder against this," Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh’s state minister for
foreign affairs, told Anadolu Agency.
Alam said the host country must have the
right to follow its "rules and regulations" in sheltering over a
million refugees.
"Bangladesh is an independent and
sovereign country, but we have challenges in maintaining our own law and order.
If we have any issues arising from them [Rohingya], we must take a tougher
stance," Alam said.
Following a brutal military crackdown in
Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017, Bangladesh opened its door to the
persecuted people.
According to a report by the Ontario International
Development Agency (OIDA), nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by
Myanmar’s state forces while more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires
and over 114,000 others were beaten.
Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were
raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned
down and 113,000 others vandalized, the report said.
In September 2017, Bangladesh’s Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and expressed
sympathy to the refugees.
"Our houses were also burnt down in 1971
[during liberation war]. Our people fled to India when they had nowhere to go.
So, we are doing everything in our power to help the Rohingya," She told
media after visiting a Rohingya camp on Sept. 12, 2017.
On Sept. 14, 2017, Hasina said in the
country’s parliament: "If needed, we will share our food and only then we
will have our food.”
In response to the outstanding generosity
showed by Hasina, U.K.-based Channel 4 dubbed her "Mother of
Humanity".
Restrictions
But, following the failure of the Aug. 22,
2019 initiative of repatriating 3,450 Rohingya to Myanmar, Bangladesh seemingly
changed its stance.
The displaced community demanded citizenship
rights and a safety guarantee in the presence of the international community
before being resettled in their original places in Myanmar’s Rakhine state,
from where they fled.
Within one week, Bangladesh barred 41
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from undertaking any activity in the
Rohingya camps, accusing them of being involved in “malpractices”.
The country also imposed a ban on operations
of two international NGOs in Cox’s Bazar, accusing them of “secretly assisting”
the Aug. 25, 2019 rally of Rohingya in which more than 200,000 refugees took
part to commemorate the second anniversary of "Rohingya Genocide
Day".
Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya leader, issued a
video message, urging the local and international media to refrain from
portraying their peaceful rally negatively. "We are ready to return [to
Myanmar] given our dignity, safety and rights are guaranteed,” he said.
Moreover, Mohammad Abul Kalam, head of
Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, along with seven top
officials of the commission is also replaced following the rally.
Earlier this month, the Bangladeshi
government ordered a ban on mobile phone services and selling of SIM cards at
the refugee camps, an attempt to push hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims
to a communications blackout.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh army has proposed for
setting up barbed wire fences around the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on
“security grounds”.
"This proposal has been raised in
different government meetings based on a clear need," Lt. Col. Md Abdullah
Ibn Zayed, director of Bangladesh Army’s media wing, told Anadolu Agency.
On Sept. 4, the Bangladeshi military reported
in a meeting that out of 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in 31 makeshift camps,
there are 400,000 children -- aged between 12 and 17 -- who are not receiving
any education and are posing threat not only to the country but to the entire
region.
"Given the opportunity, they [children]
will spread across the country [Bangladesh] and international terrorist
organizations may try to use them to serve their interests," Lt. Gen.
Mahfuzur Rahman, an army official, was quoted as saying by the Daily Star.
Dozens of Rohingya have reportedly been
arrested across the country in recent weeks as the authorities accused them of
acquiring Bangladeshi passports and nationality identification cards illegally.
Call for lifting restrictions
Bangladesh’s new measures will seemingly harm
Hasina’s “Mother of Humanity” image among the international community.
In a recent statement, Human Rights Watch
(HRW) called on Bangladesh government to “end restrictions on Rohingya
refugees’ freedom of movement and access to the internet and online
communications.”
Rezwan Siddiqui, a senior journalist, opined
that Bangladesh would not be able to keep 1.2 million Rohingya for long.
"If Bangladesh now tries to absorb those
1.2 million Rohingya in its land for long, India would try to push 1.7 million
non-registered Bengalis from its Assam province whom India has recently labeled
as illegal Bangladeshis," Siddiqui told Anadolu Agency.
However, a Rohingya advocacy group considers
the recent measures a ploy of Bangladesh government to shift the refugees to a
remote island on the Bay of Bengal.
"Bangladeshi government should put
pressure on Myanmar to facilitate a peaceful environment for Rohingya
repatriation, rather than pressuring the refugees," said N.R. Abdur
Rashid, secretary-general of the Rohingya Solidarity Organization.
Bangladesh has built shelters for around
100,000 Rohingya in Bashan Char, a recently emerged inhabitant island around 40
kilometers (25 miles) off the nearest shore in the southern Bangladeshi
district of Noakhali.
The planned resettlement of Rohingya was
postponed due to criticism and pressure on the government by local and
international rights groups.
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