e_Paper (25 November 2016)

2
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
News
‘I grabbed my children and ran’
Morshed Ali Khan travels to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for the Dhaka Tribune to provide an eye-witness account of
the situation in Chittagong division and neighbouring Rakhine state. This is his third report from the heart of no-man’s land
DISPATCHES
FROM THE
BORDER
Refugees fleeing the ongoing Myanmar
army crackdown on the
Rohingya community in northern
Rakhine state bring with them
harrowing tales of brutal atrocity
which shock the conscience.
Traumatised and terror-stricken
survivors recounted to this correspondent
the Myanmar army’s
modus operandi of rounding up
several families, then forcing men,
women and children into a house
and locking every exit. They then
set fire to the whole house along
with the screaming inmates, according
to eye-witness accounts.
The refugees fleeing the programme
claim that these are not
isolated incidents but routine occurrences.
Due to media blackout
in Rakhine state, the Dhaka Tribune
has not been able to independently
verify these accounts.
However, stories of such atrocities
are so common among the newly arrived
Rohingyas, it quickly reminds
one of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
when Hutu militias embarked on annihilating
the entire race of Tutsis.
Of course the Hutu-led government
was not successful.
Hafez Shufayet, 18, from
Kearipara in Maungdaw, arrived at
the Leda makeshift refugee camp
with a similar story. On October
12, three days into the military offensive,
19 members of his family,
including his uncles, aunts, their
children and his grandparents were
burnt alive inside their own house.
Hasina Begum paid money
equivalent to Tk2,000 for crossing
the Naf River early yesterday with
her three children. She described
how her husband Mohammad
Moslem had been shot and then
beheaded by the military personnel
in front of her at the village of
Amtoly Valley about 20 days ago.
“I grabbed my children and ran
towards the forest, and waited
there with several hundred people,”
Hasina said. The opportunity
to cross the border came last night
with 20 other people.
Filthy and in squalid condition,
the makeshift camp of Leda, where
some 2,500 families are huddled in,
has no legality in any official book.
They receive no ration and hundreds
of Rohingya children roam
around the narrow rows of landings
without any access to education,
medical care or sanitation. Despite
that, the new arrivals are enthusiastically
supported by the older ones.
Still the Rohingyas feel safe in
the camp.
“I shall earn my bread here, and
if necessary, I shall travel to Dhaka
for work,” Hasina said clutching
her son firmly. “One thing I am sure
that those Burmese men cannot
come here to kill us,” she added.
The chairman of the Leda camp,
Dudu Mia, has been in the same
camp for 15 years. He said that the
atrocities on Rohingyas had remained
the same for as long as he
could remember. Rape, arson, killings
and looting of Rohingya families
have continued till today.
“The UN should deploy peacekeeping
forces to protect thousands
of Rohingyas from total annihilation,”
he said, adding: “In all their official
proceedings, Rohingyas are classified
as Bangalis and they [military] want
us to escape to Bangladesh.”
As the Rohingyas continue to
sneak into Bangladesh in hundreds,
the Border Guard Bangladesh sets up
five check points along the 54km long
river border. Bangladesh shares a total
of 218 km of border with Myanmar. •
Morshed Ali Khan is a veteran conflict
zone reporter who is operating as a
freelancer for this story.
BD seeks international support to end Rohingya crisis
• Jebun Nesa Alo
Hasina Begum, a Rohingya woman who lost her husband in a brutal attack by the Myanmar Army men about 20 days ago, reached Teknaf along with her three children
after paying Tk2,000 to a middleman to cross the Naf River yesterday
MORSHED ALI KHAN
Bangladesh yesterday sought support
from international community
to resolve ongoing Rohingya
crisis on the Bangladesh-Myanmar
border.
The foreign minister sought the
support at a meeting with diplomatic
community over the recent
crisis in Rakhine state of Myanmar
that caused sudden influx of
Rohingyas in the bordering areas
raising security concern for Bangladesh.
The Foreign Ministry called the
meeting over the Myanmar issue
to find out possible ways to resolve
Rohingya crisis that put Bangladesh
in trouble.
Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, the
foreign minister, briefed the members
of the diplomatic community
on the evolving situation in Myanmar
and Bangladesh-Myanmar
relations at the State Guest House,
Padma yesterday.
Foreign Minister urged the international
community to play its
due role in it.
He requested the diplomatic
community to sensitize their governments
so that a coordinated approach
can be taken to address the issue, said
a statement issued by the Foreign
Ministry soon after the meeting.
Ambassadors, high commissioners,
heads of missions of various
diplomatic missions including
USA, Canada, EU, UK, Norway,
Denmark, India and China and
from the Office of UNRC, IOM and
UNHCR attended the briefing.
Diplomatic community agreed
with Bangladesh to resolve the Rohingya
crisis through peaceful negotiation
with Myanmar government,
Ali told reporters after the meeting.
The minister described Bangladesh’s
stance over Myanmar
crisis to the diplomatic members
saying that government of Bangladesh
provided suo motto to the
government of Myanmar since the
terrorist attacks took place in the
borderguard posts of Myanmar on
09 October 2016.
As a responsible neighbour,
Bangladesh not only condemned
the attack, it also provided critical
assistance to the government of
Myanmar by apprehending suspects
and sharing intelligence.
The foreign minister, however,
expressed serious concern on the
influx of Rakhine Muslims into the
territory of Bangladesh in spite of
Bangladesh Border Guard’s efforts
to stop the flow.
Bangladesh has already requested
the government of Myanmar to
take appropriate measures so that
the Muslim minority people are
not forced to take shelter across
the border.
The ambassador of Myanmar in
Dhaka was called by the ministry
on 23 November and concerns of
Bangladesh government was conveyed
to him.
On the other hand, Ali at an
another event the same day said
Bangladesh is letting in some of the
Rohingyas fleeing the violence in
Rakhine state of Myanmar on humanitarian
ground.
“However, Bangladesh still
stands firm on refusing to open the
border along Myanmar. But in some
cases, we are allowing Rohingyas after
considering the inhumane conditions
they have escaped from,”
the minister said at a press conference
arranged to brief the media on
his upcoming visit to Hungary for
the Budapest Water Summit-2016 at
the Foreign Ministry.
“The government is providing
them with food and emergency
services,” he said.
“Despite our tightened security
measures, some Rohingyas are entering
Bangladesh as the entire border
with Myanmar is yet to be fully
secured,” he added.
According to our correspondents,
several hundred Rohingyas
managed to enter Bangladesh in
the last two days despite tight vigil
by the Border Guard Bangladesh
and Coast Guard.
Some of them took shelter at the
makeshift official Rohingya camp
at Leda of Mochina in Teknaf.
The United Nation’s refugee
agency UNHCR and New York-based
rights body Human Rights Watch
have asked Bangladesh to open its
border with Myanmar and allow the
Rohingyas to seek protection. •