800 Rohingyas sneak out of camps to attend Bishwa Ijtema

Staff Reporter :
Around 800 Rohingyas sneaked out of various camps in Cox’s Bazar and loaded in dozens of buses in a bid to reach Dhaka to attend the second phase of Bishwa Ijtema scheduled to be held from 20 to 22 January.
But police foiled their attempts and sent them back to their respective Rohingya camps on Wednesday.
Police and Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) sources said that the Rohingyas in the name of various excuses come out of the camps at different times and it has become a difficult situation to keep them within the compound of the camps as the area is very inaccessible.
Cox’s Bazar police said that over seven hundred Rohingyas came out of the camps by evading the surveillance of the administration in order to reach Dhaka to attend Ijtema.
These Rohingyas sneaked out of the camps in small numbers and gathered at Cox’s Bazar town to catch buses to reach Dhaka, sources said.
When their buses were heading towards the destination, police intercepted them at Jail Gate area of Cox’s Bazar.
The detained Rohingyas told the police that they had been preparing for the last few days to attend the second phase of Ijtema and they did not face any obstruction on the way before entering the Cox’s Bazar town.
“We have intercepted some 769 Rohingyas. They are trying to go to Ijtema by buses. We have sent them back to their camps,” Additional Superintendent of Police of Cox’s Bazar Mohammad Rafiqul Islam told The New Nation on Wednesday.
About the challenges of keeping the Rohingyas inside the camps, he said, “It’s really a big challenge for all of us. The law enforcers are deployed there but the Rohingyas under various excuses come out of the camps.”
He further said that sometimes the Rohingyas take the assistance of the local people to come out of the camps.
“Various law enforcing agencies including three battalions of APBn i.e. over 2000 personnel are deployed there to oversee the Rohingyas. But it is really difficult as the area is inaccessible,” Rafiqul Islam said.
RRRC said that the police have intercepted the Rohingyas who were attempting to go to Dhaka to attend Ijtema.
“Law enforcers including police are trying to prevent such attempts. Even before the first phase of Ijtema, some Rohingyas tried to sneak out of the camps, but law enforcers prevented them,” Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman told The New Nation.
“The task of overseeing over 1.1 million Rohingyas is really difficult. It is a big concern for us. We have a shortage of manpower. We have asked to deploy Ansars to increase the oversight process,” he said.
He also said that they had held a meeting regarding the increase of law enforcers to intensify the surveillance process.
Police and RRC sources further said that the law and order situation inside the camps are deteriorating as various Rohingya groups are locked in infighting over drug, arms dealings and human trafficking.
The killing incidents have been taking place frequently among various groups of the Rohingyas.
Whenever the APBn tries to prevent them from various crimes, the Rohingyas in retaliation say that they are being harassed by the law enforcers.
Police and RRRC said that sensitisation among the local community people is very imperative so that they don’t assist the Rohingyas for their ill motives.
As the camps are porous, the Rohingyas in different times sneaked out of the camps and spread in different parts of the country. Even these people are intercepted by the law enforcers from different areas.
“As the physical appearances and language of the Rohingyas are almost identical with the locals, it becomes very difficult to trace them. Even many Rohingyas have learned the local language and cultural behaviour. So, concerted efforts are necessary to face these challenges,” Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said.
Five years have passed since the Rohingya exodus took place in August 2017. The repatriation process has still not commenced despite international and regional pressures.
The Myanmar Junta government has not yet begun the repatriation though an instrument has been signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas to their homeland.