Rohingya Relocation: 1,500 more to go to Bhasan Char from Cox’s Bazar

Feb 14 , R Vision

Another 1,500 Rohingyas are moving from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char in Noakhali as the internal conflict in Myanmar is impacting the border areas of Bangladesh. The Rohingyas, who wanted to go to Bhasan Char voluntarily, were taken to the grounds of Ukhiya Degree College in Cox’s Bazar by bus from the camp around 4pm on Tuesday.

From there, they will leave for Chittagong at night, Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Shamsud Douza confirmed the information. He said: “In the 23rd phase, about 1,500 Rohingyas from Ukhiya-Teknaf camp are going to Bhasan Char. They are scheduled to sail to Bhasan Char by a naval ship on Wednesday morning. Earlier, 32,000 Rohingyas from Cox’s Bazar camp went to Bhasan Char in the same process.”

Mohammad Rashid was waiting for a bus in front of the Leda Rohingya camp in Teknaf with seven members of his family. He said: “My family is growing, so we are facing a very difficult life here. The Rohingyas living in Bhasan Char receive more rations than we do here in Cox’s Bazar. That’s why we are moving to Bhasan Char.”

“The situation in Myanmar’s Arakan is getting worse. Therefore, I see no way to return there (to Myanmar). So, there is no option but to go to Bhasan Char,” he further said.

More than 1.1 million Rohingyas from Rakhine state fled to Bangladesh after being forcibly displaced from Myanmar and are living in refugee camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazar.

Most of them fled during a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017.

Two years ago, the government started the process of relocating at least 100,000 Rohingyas to Bhasan Char, an island in the Meghna estuary near Hatia in Noakhali, to ease the pressure of refugees.

Resource : Dhaka Tribune
Rohingya Vision News