Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The Rohingya refugees are trying to spread across the country by crossing the boundary of Chittagong Hill Tracts districts and some south-eastern parts of the state while Myanmar government claimed that more than 176 villages were completely deserted
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Rohingyas spreading
in Rakhine State in recent days.
Police also detained 20 Rohingyas from Manikganj district on Thursday, around 60 kilometers west from the capital. They went there illegally and they have tried to live in the area by dodging the law enforces.
The migrated people might be involved in serious crimes, including yaba smuggling and human trafficking, law enforcers said.
Earlier, the government claimed that they have taken all necessary steps to check the Rohingya spreading from their shelters. Around seven lakh Rohingyas migrated from Myanmar following the joint force torture since August 25 this year.
“A ongoing census of Rohingya refugees have already found that the persecuted ethnic minority people of Myanmar have spread across Bangladesh and they are now in almost all of the 64 districts,” said Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics official who conducted the recent census.
“When field workers employed in conducting post-enumeration survey went door to door at Leda makeshift camp of Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar, they found the shelters filled to the brim with newcomers,” he said.
‘Household interviews revealed that refugees have started to live in the rest 58 districts leaving the six districts under census in search of shelter and employment,’ the BBS official said.
The household interviews revealed that refugees have started to live in Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Chittagong and Patuakhali, the primary destinations of the Rohingya refugees.
It is believed that 3-5 lakh Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh. The first influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar into Bangladesh was seen in 1978 and the 2nd and 3rd influx in 1992 and 2012, according to the official.
Additional Cox’s Bazar District Magistrate Khaled Mahmud said the authorities started working to “stop the Rohingyas from getting mixed up with Bangladeshis.”
“We will register them with their biometric details at 17 points,” he said.
He also said they would strengthen monitoring to stop the Rohingyas from spreading to other parts of the country.
According to the UN, around 4,00,000 Rohingyas had entered Bangladesh since Aug 25, when the Myanmar Army launched a counter-offensive in response to reported attacks on police posts and an army base in Rakhine.
Tanjim Uddin Khan, Assistant Professor of International Relation Department of Dhaka University, told The New Nation on Thursday, “The proper diplomatic policy only can solve the Rohingya crisis. If the government fails to solve the influx, then they will be spread across the country to sustain their daily lives
Mahbubur Rahman, Mayor of Cox’s Bazar Municipality, said an estimated 17,000,00 newly arrived Rohingyas have already taken shelters in the district and its nearby hill tract areas, mainly Chittagong, Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
Rohingyas of Myanmar have been taking refuge in Bangladesh after fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. The estimated number of Rohingyas already living in refugee camps in Bangladesh is around 10,00,000, locals said.
The authorities in Cox’s Bazar have strengthened security following the new wave of Rohingya influx, according to them.
Security personnel were seen patrolling the streets in the district, especially at Teknaf Upazila near the border with Myanmar, they said.
The authorities claim the new refugees are not being allowed to cross Ukhiya, but many Rohingyas are reportedly entering further into Bangladesh, they added.
The Rohingyas, who have money, do not face any problem to travel to any part of Bangladesh, as per their speculation.
Salima Khatun, a Rohingya woman from Akiyab in Rakhine, said that the widow of one of her relatives killed in the recent violence in the Myanmar state moved to Cox’s Bazar town and other district.
Sharif Hossain, a Rohingya man from Maungdaw in Myanmar, was walking towards Kutupalong refugee camp in Teknaf from Ukhiya.
He said that he tried to go to Cox’s Bazar, but Border Guard Bangladesh personnel stopped him at Ukhiya.
Commanding Officer (CO) of RAB-7 Lt Colonel Miftah Uddin said, “The Myanmar citizens come to Bangladesh territory easily and returned back within short time after delivering the drugs to the smugglers.”
Lieutenant Colonel S M Ariful Islam, Commanding Officer of the Border Guard Bangladesh in Teknaf, said. “Twenty Rohingya refugees, who entered Bangladesh to escape persecution in Myanmar, were found in Manikganj, around 450 kilometres away from Cox’s Bazar camps.”
“We shall remain alert about the Rohingya people as a good number of them were detained for their alleged involvement for drug smuggling and human trafficking,” he said.
The Rohingyas were rescued from different areas in Singair upazila of the district on Thursday, said Mahfuzur Rahman, Superintendent of Police of Manikganj.
The rescued Rohingyas — three men, six women, and 11 children — have been kept at Singair Pilot High School under police custody and will be sent to Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday, the police official also said.
A total of 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages in the northern area of Rakhine State of Myanmar are now completely empty after ‘the whole village fled’, said government spokesman Zaw Htay. He also said that 36 other villages were partly deserted or intact.
