Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The authorities have decided to build barbed wire fence around the designated Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar amid growing security concern.
The barbed wire fence would be built at the cost of Tk 3.19 crore, officials said.
“We’re going to build the barbed wire fence around the 11 Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to restrict movement of the Rohingya refugees,” Md Habibul Kabir, Refugee Cell Chief of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the authorities earlier issued order prohibiting Rohingya refugees from leaving the border district and stay in the designated camps. But they’re violating the order and getting involved in violence and criminal activities with host communities causing security concern.
“This has forced the local administration to build the barbed-wire fences around the camps,” he added.
Habibul Kabir further said the Cox’s Bazar district administration has already expressed concern over the safety and security of the local communities as a result of growing criminal activities by the Rohingyas.
“We want to restrict movement of the refugees at any cost to maintain peace in the border district,” he said.
On October 28, Rohingyas attacked a Bangladeshi identified as 28-year-old Abdul Jabbar, who later died while undergoing treatment.
Referring to a government order, Habibul Kabir said refugees should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country.
An estimated 6,37,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border into Cox’s Bazar since August 25 amid a bloody army crackdown against the Muslim minority community in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
