Special Correspondent :
Different quarters have expressed doubt at the ‘smooth repatriation’ of Rohingya in line with the agreement recently signed between the Dhaka and Naypyidaw while the details of the memorandum still remains sketchy.
“Over one million Rohingya people [old and new] are now staying in Bangladesh. It’s a big challenge for Bangladesh government to send them back to their homeland Myanmar. In this regard, the government needs cooperation of all,” Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the CNN reported that “So far, no official details have been released on the agreement, what it would entail and under what circumstances the Rohingya would return.”
Besides, The New York Times reported that “Neither Dhaka nor Naypyidaw gave details, apart from a vague commitment to begin a repatriation process within two months’ time.”
Quoting some media reports, the Council on Foreign Relations said,
Dhaka and Naypyidaw have agreed to allow UNHCR to oversee repatriation of Rohingya back to Myanmar.
But how can UNHCR do so while violence is still going on in Rakhine State? What’s more, the Myanmar government reportedly has not agreed to allow UNHCR full access to Rakhine State.
The Amnesty International has warned that Rohingyas who would return to Myanmar could wind up in camps that are already established in Rakhine State.
Those camps, which have held Rohingya since the violence first broke out five years ago, have been condemned by rights organizations as little more than open-air jails or concentration camps, the Amnesty International added.
Significantly, there is no timeframe for repatriation of Rohingyas. There are more. Though the refugees would be verified by the joint working group, Myanmar has strong reservation not to involve UNHCR in the procedure.
It is also uncertain where the Rohingyas would go if they were returned to Myanmar while many of their villages have been burned down in a military operation which the United Nations has called a ‘textbook case of ethnic cleansing’.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently said that Myanmar would take back only the ‘verified’ refugees. “This would be done according to the criteria set between the two countries in 1993,” she said.
The agreement signed on November 23 did not clear whether the persecuted minority could stay in Rakhine state without any fear of further violence. Besides, it also acquitted Myanmar’s military of any responsibility for conducting an ethnic cleansing against Rohingyas.
Interestingly, the two foreign ministers of Bangladesh and Myanmar have blamed a Rohingya rebel group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, for the violence. As per the seven-page agreement, the “Muslims” not the Rohingya had “taken shelter in Bangladesh following the terrorist attacks on 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017”.
Not only that, the main opposition party BNP has also criticised the government for signing such an agreement with Myanmar. As per the agreement, around 700,000 Rohingyas would return to their homeland ‘voluntarily’. According to latest report of International Organisation for Migration [IOM], human trafficking and exploitation are rife among Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar to seek safety in Cox’s Bazar. With almost no alternative source of income, the Rohingyas are willing to take whatever opportunities they are presented with, even ones that are risky, dangerous and that involve their children, the IOM further warned.
Different quarters have expressed doubt at the ‘smooth repatriation’ of Rohingya in line with the agreement recently signed between the Dhaka and Naypyidaw while the details of the memorandum still remains sketchy.
“Over one million Rohingya people [old and new] are now staying in Bangladesh. It’s a big challenge for Bangladesh government to send them back to their homeland Myanmar. In this regard, the government needs cooperation of all,” Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the CNN reported that “So far, no official details have been released on the agreement, what it would entail and under what circumstances the Rohingya would return.”
Besides, The New York Times reported that “Neither Dhaka nor Naypyidaw gave details, apart from a vague commitment to begin a repatriation process within two months’ time.”
Quoting some media reports, the Council on Foreign Relations said,
Dhaka and Naypyidaw have agreed to allow UNHCR to oversee repatriation of Rohingya back to Myanmar.
But how can UNHCR do so while violence is still going on in Rakhine State? What’s more, the Myanmar government reportedly has not agreed to allow UNHCR full access to Rakhine State.
The Amnesty International has warned that Rohingyas who would return to Myanmar could wind up in camps that are already established in Rakhine State.
Those camps, which have held Rohingya since the violence first broke out five years ago, have been condemned by rights organizations as little more than open-air jails or concentration camps, the Amnesty International added.
Significantly, there is no timeframe for repatriation of Rohingyas. There are more. Though the refugees would be verified by the joint working group, Myanmar has strong reservation not to involve UNHCR in the procedure.
It is also uncertain where the Rohingyas would go if they were returned to Myanmar while many of their villages have been burned down in a military operation which the United Nations has called a ‘textbook case of ethnic cleansing’.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently said that Myanmar would take back only the ‘verified’ refugees. “This would be done according to the criteria set between the two countries in 1993,” she said.
The agreement signed on November 23 did not clear whether the persecuted minority could stay in Rakhine state without any fear of further violence. Besides, it also acquitted Myanmar’s military of any responsibility for conducting an ethnic cleansing against Rohingyas.
Interestingly, the two foreign ministers of Bangladesh and Myanmar have blamed a Rohingya rebel group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, for the violence. As per the seven-page agreement, the “Muslims” not the Rohingya had “taken shelter in Bangladesh following the terrorist attacks on 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017”.
Not only that, the main opposition party BNP has also criticised the government for signing such an agreement with Myanmar. As per the agreement, around 700,000 Rohingyas would return to their homeland ‘voluntarily’. According to latest report of International Organisation for Migration [IOM], human trafficking and exploitation are rife among Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar to seek safety in Cox’s Bazar. With almost no alternative source of income, the Rohingyas are willing to take whatever opportunities they are presented with, even ones that are risky, dangerous and that involve their children, the IOM further warned.
