Two UNHCR officials visit camp

Several thousand Rohingyas living in Bhasan Char under the coastal district of Noakhali on Monday staged demonstrations in the presence of two senior UN officials demanded that there should be scope for income generation in the island and steps to ensure repatriation to Myanmar.

The demonstrators attempted to proceed in groups to the local helipad immediately after the arrival of UNHCR assistant high commissioners Raouf Mazou and Gillian Triggs at the island. Local Police dispersed the mob through peaceful manoeuvring, a government official said.

They also congregated in front of the guest house where the UNHCR team held a briefing on the management of the Rohingya camp established in Bhasan Char amid tight security.

The demonstrators finally gathered in front of the warehouse of the island after the camp management assured them that the UN team would listen to them there.

The Rohingyas were  agitated and pelted brickbats at two local markets, the office of the Bhasan Char camp-in-charge, fire station and the warehouse used by the government agencies, said a Rohingya leader in the island.

Police charged batons on sections of agitating Rohingyas as they attempted to vandalise some of the installations on the island, said a government official.

In the meeting with the UNHCR team, Rohingya representatives demanded that scope for works should be created so that each family can earn at least Tk 5 thousand every month.

They claimed that in the camps in Cox’s Bazar prior to their relocation to the island, they used to get engaged in income-generating activities managed by the UN organisations and the local and foreign NGOs.

But in the government-managed Bhasan Char, the Rohingya families get only relief amid a severe shortage of cash which is essential for meeting their everyday needs, they said.

Some of the Rohingyas alleged that they get low-quality food supplies and inadequate treatment during their sickness in Bhasan Char.

Several Rohingyas also demanded that they should be allowed to travel to third countries as there was no possibility of starting their relocation to Rakhine of Myanmar soon.

Female and male Rohingyas of different age groups joined the rally.

The UN officials mainly listened to the statements made by the Rohingyas and Bangladesh government officials.

Md Mohsin, secretary of disaster management and relief ministry in charge of the relief activities for the Rohingya people, said he heard that the agitators were violent during the demonstrations.

He refuted the claims on distributing low-quality food in Bhashan Char stating that the government ‘is aware that Bhashan Char is under the surveillance of local and international quarters.’  

Noakhali superintendent of Police Alamgir Hossain claimed that the police unit in the island brought the situation under control without applying any force.

UNHCR officials left Bhashan Char for Cox’s Bazar to visit the Rohingya camps in the tourism district.

The Bangladesh government claimed that over 18,000 Rohingyas were relocated to the island after voluntarily expressing their willingness to leave the camps in Cox’s Bazar.

The government invested more than Tk 3,100 crore from its own funds to develop the 13,000-acre island with all amenities and facilities of supply of electricity and water, agricultural plots, cyclone shelters, two hospitals, four community clinics, mosques, warehouses, telecommunication services, police station, recreation and learning centres and playgrounds.

At least 8,60,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, have entered Bangladesh fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by the Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide, beginning on August 25, 2017, raising the number of the members of the community to over 1.1 million.

Not a single Rohingya has gone back to their home in Rakhine yet as the Myanmar government has stalled the repatriation process resorting to various means.