Skip to main content

Rohingyas recount terror of Burma clashes

Zohara Khatun says she and her family ran for their lives - her father was killed
Zohara Khatun is still reeling from the trauma of seeing her father killed in western Burma in June.
"My father was shot dead by the Burmese military in front me. Our entire village was destroyed. We ran for our lives. I still don't know what happened to my mother," she said, sitting in a thatched hut in a fishing village near the town of Teknaf in south-eastern Bangladesh.
Ms Khatun is one of the Rohingya Muslims who have managed to cross into Bangladesh following the communal unrest in western Burma's Rakhine province.
The 30-year old broke down repeatedly as she tried to explain what happened over the border.
She says their village came under attack during clashes between majority Buddhists and local Muslims, mostly from the Rohingya minority. Nearly 80 people were killed in the fighting and thousands were displaced.
Human rights groups allege that Burmese security forces continue to carry out mass arrests, forcing many Rohingya Muslims to flee. A state of emergency declared last month is still in force in many places of the province.
Unwanted
There is no independent confirmation of the claims of extra-judicial killings and other abuses - journalists are denied access to the area. Burma denies its security forces are responsible for human rights abuses.

Since the June clashes, thousands of refugees have been trying to get into Bangladesh, taking perilous boat journeys along the Bay of Bengal and across the river Naf, which separates the two countries.
"We were floating on water for six days. I could not feed my children for days," Ms Khatun said.
"When we tried to reach Bangladesh, we were not allowed to enter. We did not know where to go."
There are an estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims living in western Burma. The Burmese authorities argue that the Rohingyas are recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent.
But Dhaka says they belong to Burma, so they are not welcome in Bangladesh either. Dhaka says there are already 400,000 Rohingyas living inside the country, most of them, it says illegally.
Bangladesh has pushed nearly 1,500 Rohingya Muslims back into Burma since June saying it cannot afford to help them.
Some - like the family of Zohara Khatun - have managed to get in. The Rohingyas who came recently have been living in hiding among Bangladeshi villagers. They are afraid that if the authorities come to know about them they will be sent back to Burma immediately.
Bangladeshi authorities say they are determined to stop the latest influx.
Lt Col Zahid Hasan of the Bangladeshi border guards showed me how his men have been patrolling the river Naf to prevent Rohingyas from crossing into the country.
"It is really putting a direct effect on our social stability as well as the economy. If this influx continues then the problem of stability will be at stake," Col Hasan said.
"Sometimes these Rohingya people are involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and other anti-social activities which are really affecting the social stability in this area."
The Rohingyas deny such allegations.
'We belong to Burma'
The refugees I spoke to accused Burmese security forces of turning a blind eye when their villages came under attack.
Sayeda BegumSayeda Begum now has no husband and her children no father
"My husband was killed in the riots. The Burmese police were shooting only at the Muslims, not the Buddhists. The military was just watching from the rooftop and they did not intervene," said Sayeda Begum, another Rohingya Muslim woman.
Rohingya Muslims have flocked to Bangladesh over the past 30 years, bringing with them tales of oppression and exclusion.
They are denied citizenship and land rights in Burma. Human rights groups say they are among the most persecuted minorities in the world.
But Bangladesh's refusal to allow in the recent wave of refugees has also attracted criticism.
"We understand it is not that easy. So we advocate with the government of Bangladesh to give at least temporary protection status to those arriving from Rakhine state of Myanmar [Burma]," said Dirk Hebecker, a senior official from the UN Refugee Agency in the Bangladeshi town of Cox's Bazaar.
The Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh in the past three decades have been living in camps along the border. The unofficial refugee camps have no running water, drainage or health facilities. The Rohingyas live in abject poverty and squalor in these camps.
Rohingyas in camp near TeknafConditions in the unofficial Rohingya refugee camps are squalid
The recent statement by Burmese President Thein Sein that the Rohingyas should be resettled in a third country has also added to the anxiety of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
"We are concerned by the president's comments. We belong to Burma and we want to go back to our villages. It is difficult to live in refugee camps like this," said Ahmed Hossain, a Rohingya community leader in Kutupalong camp, near Cox's Bazaar.
"We are willing to go back to Burma only if our security and rights are guaranteed."
For years, Bangladesh has been urging the Burmese authorities to take back the Rohingya refugees living in various camps but without much success.
The latest crisis comes at a time when Burma is gradually moving towards democracy. But many here in Bangladesh argue that the process may not be complete unless the Rohingya issue is resolved.
Source here 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung undergoes questioning

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung By Kayleigh Long Myanmar Times February 07, 2014 Union Solidarity and Development Party MP U Shwe Maung has been questioned by police in Nay Pyi Taw over comments he made to Democratic Voice of Burma about possible police involvement in a fire that broke out in a Muslim village in Rakhine State late last month. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in the blaze at Du Chee Yar Tan West village near Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State on January 28. U Shwe Maung said the February 4 interrogation came at the behest of President U Thein Sein, who sent a letter to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann requesting permission for police question the MP. The interview lasted about 90 minutes and was conducted at his USDP living quarters in Nay Pyi Taw. It focused on allegations that U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya, had defamed the state and police by saying that residents believed security forces were involved in starting the fire. ...

ERC representatives and Dr.Maung Zarni partook a seminar in Sweden

ERC Delegation Meet Dr. Zarni Mohamed Farooq ( Mayu Press) May 7, 2013 The Stockholm University of Sweden held a seminar on “Forum for Asian Studies” at William Olsson Hall, the department of geological science on 3rd May 2013. It depicts Rohingya tragedy and Human Right Eradication in western Burma. Burma (Myanmar) is a nation with ambition to make their name and discharge their White Man’s Burden, one of the world’s hottest assignments in the world of diplomats, development consultants, NGO experts and academic researchers, a lucrative ‘frontier’ market for investors, venture capitalists and multinationals, a must-go for both citizen-tourists and global luminaries. This lecture will critically discuss the rose-tinted view of reforms in Burma against the troubling realties as lived by the people of that country, including full-scale Rohingya genocide of 40 years, the 60-years of Burmese army’s un-ending internal colonial wars against the Christian Kachins, the Kare...

রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনো ভবিষ্যৎ নেই

বাংলাদেশের আশ্রয়শিবিরে বসবাসকারী রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনোই ভবিষ্যৎ নেই বলে মন্তব্য করেছেন রোহিঙ্গা বিষয়ক আইনজীবী রাজিয়া সুলতানা। তিনি এই আশ্রয়শিবিরকে চিড়িয়াখানার সঙ্গে তুলনা করেছেন এবং রোহিঙ্গাদের ফেরত পাঠানোর জন্য একটি উপযুক্ত কৌশল নির্ধারণের আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন। কয়েকদিন আগে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়ের ইন্টারন্যাশনাল ওমেন অব কারেজ এওয়ার্ড (আইডব্লিউসিএ) পুরস্কার পান রাজিয়া সুলতানা। সাহসিকতা দেখানোর জন্য সারা বিশ্ব থেকে বাছাই করা ১০ জন নারীকে এ পুরস্কার দেয়া হয়।  রাজিয়া সুলতানার একটি সাক্ষাৎকার নিয়েছে বার্তা সংস্থা রয়টার্স। তাতে তিনি রোহিঙ্গাদের পরিণতি নিয়ে হতাশা প্রকাশ করেন। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, মিয়ানমারের মুসলিম সংখ্যালঘু সম্প্রদায়ের রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের মধ্যে আশার অভাব রয়েছে। ২০১৭ সালের আগস্টে মিয়ানমারের সেনাবাহিনীর নৃশংস নির্যাতনের ফলে তারা পালিয়ে এসে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নিতে বাধ্য হয়। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, এই আশ্রয় শিবিরে যত বেশি সময় শরণার্থীরা থাকবেন ততই পরিস্থিতির অবনতি ঘটতে থাকবে। ওই সাক্ষাৎকারে তিনি আরো বলেন, হ্যাঁ, এ কথা সত্য যে, শরণার্থীরা খাবার পাচ্ছে। কিন...