Teknaf, Bangladesh: Over 60 tents of Rohingya refugees, built near Teknaf bus-station before the Rohingya Resistance Committee (RRC) was formed in Teknaf, were destroyed by the local authorities along with police on January 23, said one of the refugees whose tent was also destroyed.

The RRC committee was formed in Teknaf on January 2, after a meeting by the local people. After forming the RRC, over 600 Rohingyas were arrested from border areas such as--- Shapuri Dip, Teknaf, Ukiya, Whykong, Balu Khali, Bandarban district   and Cox’s Bazaar of Bangladesh by BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) and police, said a local elder from the border.    

After forming the RRC in Teknaf, some local officials such as--- Perbez (40), son of late village headman Sher Maluk, from Teknaf, Mahbul Alam, Teknaf Upazilar Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Nazim Uddin, Mozammal, Rahmat Ullah, some UP members and police--- moved some of the Rohingya refugees living in local villages in Teknaf by renting houses and sent them to nearby Teknaf bus-station and settled them after constructing tents, the refugee added.  

However, on January 23, the authorities destroyed all the refugee tents and asked them to go to their earlier places. Meanwhile, the cold persisting over the last few days   sent a large number of refugees, especially children and the aged, to the clinic seeking treatment for cough, pneumonia, bronchitis and other respiratory illness. The children and the aged are more vulnerable to cold after their shelters were completely destroyed. The chilly weather continued in the area causing immense suffering to the poor refugees, said a local trader from Teknaf who sympathizes with the Rohingya cause.  

The fate of these unregistered refugees is not unpredictable. Most of the unregistered refugees are in Kutupalong unregistered camp, and there future is uncertain. Refugees don’t dare to go out of the camp for work to support their families because of police and local people’s arresting them. Some of the refugees have been facing starvation, said a refugee leader from the camp who did not want to be named.

On 22 January, 30 Rohingya refugees were arrested by police while they were going to work from Kutupalong unregistered camp and were sent to Cox’s Bazaar jail. Their family members went to jail to see them, but all the wives and other family members were arrested by the police and pushed back to Burma by BDR (Bangladesh Rifles). Some of them were re-arrested by local villagers while on their way to the refugee camp. However, later they were released after their goods were looted, said a refugee.

Another 14 Rohingya refugees were also arrested on January 23, by police while on their way to work and pushed back to Burma by BDR. They are from Kutupalong camp. They were arrested by Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) after their push back. It is learnt that some of them were killed by Nasaka, but this is not confirmed, said another refugee from Kutupalong camp.

Today, 14-woman refugees from Kutupalong camp went to the forest to collect fire wood, but they were detained by authorities. Yesterday,  five women refugees were also tortured when they went to forest to collect fire wood.    

In Aakan State, the Rohingya people continue to leave their homeland to escape the systematic persecution and suppression by the repressive regime in Burma. The continuing Burmese regime’s serious human rights violations such as---forced labor, confiscation of lands, marriage restriction, arbitrary arrest and torture and extortion, movement restriction are the basic reasons for them fleeing, said a businessman from Maungdaw.

Alongside, the Rohingya, other ethnic groups such as--- Burmese Chinese, Burmese Indian and Panthay are not recognized by the junta, according to an “Annual Global Report Trends Report” released on January 16, 2009 by the UNHCR.

Burma has the world’s third largest population as stateless persons. In total there are 723,571 people are considered to be stateless in Burma, according to UN refugee agency.

Recently, a Bengali local newspaper stated that over 3,400 Rohingyas are living in Bandarban district, of who only 16 Rohingyas were arrested and pushed back. But, local people said that many more Rohingyas were arrested and pushed back from Bandarban.

A Rohingya from Holidia Palong village named Amzat Ali said, “We came here 10 years ago from Burma for the systematic persecution of Burmese government. My family was also insulted by the army in Burma. So, we took refuge in Bangladesh temporarily. But, we also fall prey to Bangladesh authority. If we do not get any shelter from Bangladesh officers, how will we get protection from ordinary Bangladesh people.”  

A local elder named Abdul Hoque from Naikhongchari union said, “Some of the Bangladeshi people had taken shelter in Arakan during the 1971 independence war, therefore, some of the Bangladeshi people sympathize with the Rohingya people who came to take shelter in Bangladesh”.