Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: On 9 June, two Rohingya were identified among the 150 supposed Bangladeshi boat-people who were repatriated from Burma to Bangladesh on 8 June, according to the Detective Branch (DB) of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
Sources said the two Rohingya are being detained in police custody, but no one knows what kind of action will be taken against them.
Some Rohingya boat-people are unwilling to identify themselves as Rohingya or to say they are from Rakhine State because they are scared that they will be imprisoned and tortured in Burma, said Ahmed, a local elder quoting a Rohingya migrant.
When the Burmese authorities draw up lists of refugee boat-people they force the Rohingya to identify themselves as Bengali.
The two Rohingya were identified as Hamid Hussain (26), a Rohingya refugee who lived in Shed #15, Block F at Kutupalong registered camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh, and Mohammad Idris (19), an unregistered Rohingya from Kututpalong makeshift camp, said the Detective Branch (DB) official.
A Bangladeshi migrant, when asked about the conditions for rescued boat-people in Burma said: “The Burmese authorities severely torture us and they don’t provide us with food and medicines on time.”
He added: “I am also very worried for the boat-people who are still in Taungbro temporary camp [in Burma] because they are not being well enough cared for."
He urged the Bangladeshi government and the the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) to bring the Bangladeshi boat-people still in Burma back home as soon as possible.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said that the Bangladeshi boat-people at present being held in Burma will be repatriated to Bangladesh within the next month.
Edited in English for BNI by Mark Inkey
