Arakan News Agency
Tired of finding nothing to do to earn their livelihoods, the Rohingyas, who fled to Bangladesh to escape atrocities by their government in Rakhaine state of Myanmar, are now begging on the streets of Cox’s Bazar.
When passengers get off vehicles, the refugees surround them in the hope of alms. They even beg for money and food intercepting the running vehicles.
These Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar’s Maungdaw province after the atrocities had erupted in October last year, are the starving refugees undergoing even more sufferings since they have to pay Tk300-500 a month for their rented shanties outside the cramped camp.
The Kutupalong camp apart, there are many unregistered camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas, where 32,000 registered refugees managed to find refuge, while some 400,000 unregistered refugees are spread out all over the district.
Around 70,000 of them have meanwhile taken shelter in squalid shanties in the areas, according to a UN report.
Whatever small amounts of food they could bring with them when escaping persecution in their own country, have already exhausted. The food provided by international humanitarian organisations does not meet their demands, leading many to starve..
When describing the horrors of persecution, on of them said he saw in dismay his daughter violated and two brothers tortured brutally by the Myanmar army.
“I along with my family members fled to Bangladesh being unable to bear the torture any more,” the 50-year-old man added.
Hamidul, also the president of the Ukhiya upazila unit Awami League, suggested the Bangladesh government with the help of the international community should take immediate measures to send them back home in Myanmar.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday said as Cox’s Bazar is a small place and also a tourist town, the Rohingyas would be rehabilitated to Thengar Char in Hatiya on humanitarian grounds.
The decision was made to protect the beach town’s natural beauty and ensure the security of tourists, he told reporters at Cox’s Bazar’s Kolatoli.
The government will take necessary steps for their livelihood and education there until the Myanmar government takes them back, Obaidul said.
Source : Dhaka Tribune
