Teknaf, Bangladesh: Harassment by the camp security police has continued to increase in the official Nayapara refugee camp recently, said a committee member from the camp.
“The Refugees are not able to sleep well at night because the camp security police enter the refugees’ sheds and disturb the refugees.”
“A group of camp security police personnel entered a widow’s shed and checked all families on August 13, starting at around 11:30 p.m.”
The group was led by Police Officer Mamun and Police Inspector Nurul Islam.
The victim has been identified as Mahamuda Khatun, aged 60, the widow of Ali Hussain, Block-E of Nayapara official camp.
“When camp security police entered her shed, she and her two daughters were sleeping. Police called and opened here door. She tried to prevent them from opening the door, but couldn’t,” said a relative.
After searching, camp police failed to find anything illicit in Khatun’s shed. Before leaving the shed, they rebuked her by telling her, “You come to Bangladesh to sleep well, but you can’t stay in Bangladesh. You should go back to Burma”, the relative added.
The next day, Khatun went to the Camp-in-Charge (CIC) office and explained the event, but the CIC has not taken any steps against the police. CIC also said that the police will continue to check the refugees’ sheds and harass them at night, as those are the orders of the CIC, said another refugee on condition of anonymity.
She also reported the matter to the UNHCR, but UNHCR staff only filed a report.
Khatun cried and said, “We came to Bangladesh from Burma because of the military persecution. We could not sleep well at night in Burma, but now we face the same problem in the refugee camp in Bangladesh”.
“Everyday, the camp police and local villagers disturb us when we want to go out, and when we try to re-enter the camp after buying essentials from the market,” said a refugee elder from the camp.
