Staff Reporter :
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Saturday said that the process of relocating one lakh Rohingyas to Bhasan Char will start soon after completion of erecting barbed-wire fences around the Cox’s Bazar camps.
He made the remarks while talking to reporters after attending the Silver Jubilee celebration of Bangladesh Coast Guards at its Headquarters in the city’s Agargaon in the morning.
“Bangladesh Army has started erecting barbed-wire fences around the Rohingya camps in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar so that they cannot go out of the camp cheated by traffickers,” said the Home Minister.
Asked whether surveillance on Rohingyas has become weak, the minister said, “Surveillance on Rohingyas is not weak at all and work to set up watchtowers and close circuit cameras is underway to strengthen the surveillance on Rohingyas.”
In addition, watchtower and CCTV cameras will be set up to further strengthen the surveillance on the Rohingya camps, he said, adding, “Therefore, all of our law enforcement agencies at the Rohingya camps must always be prepared to face any challenges.”
Also mentioning the negotiations with Myanmar over Rohingya repatriation, the Home Minister said discussion with Myanmar is still ongoing. Hopefully, Myanmar will agree to take back their nationals in some days.
Mostafa Kamal Uddin, Senior Secretary of Public Security Division under Home Ministry, said various steps have been taken to modernize the law enforce personnel.
“The organizational structure of the force has already been expanded. Various infrastructures, including modern training bases, have been built,” he added.
Bangladesh Coast Guard Director General Rear Admiral M Ashraful Haq said that robberies in the Chattogram port have come down to zero level due to the relentless efforts of the force.
Prior to that, the Home Minister distributed Bangladesh Coast Guard Medal, President Coast Guard Medal, Bangladesh Coast Guard (Seba) Medal and President Coast Guard (Seba) Medal to 40 members of the maritime law enforcement forces for their significant contribution to the development and operation of the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas in camps in Cox’s Bazar district. Most of them fled to Bangladesh since late August 2017 when the Myanmar army and their local collaborators launched a brutal offensive targeting them.
In a sweeping legal victory for the Rohingyas, the United Nations’ top court-International Court of Justice (ICJ) — ordered Myanmar to take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.
The court’s president, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said the ICJ is of the opinion that the Rohingyas in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable.
