Dhaka, Bangladesh (CU)_ A Bangladesh navy official said that around 1,700 Rohingya Muslim refugees have started their journey to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal with more waiting to go on Saturday, in spite of concerns about the possibility of storms and floods hitting the site. The relocation plans are still under process despite calls by human rights groups to halt the process.
The 3,500 Rohingya refugees are from neighboring Myanmar who fled the violence and were living in unsafe huts in the border camps. In an attempt to relocate these refugees to a better place, Bangladesh is sending them to the island of Bhasan Char since early December. Around 1,778 refugees started their journey to the island on Friday morning in four navy vessels from the southeastern port city of Chattogram.
The officer overseeing the island, Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, said “Today we are expecting 1,700-plus people to arrive here”. Chowdhury said more Rohingya refugees who had volunteered to travel to the island were being moved from the camps to Chittagong, the nearest port city. He said, “Tomorrow they will be moved to Bhasan Char. All together we are expecting 3,000-plus people”.
Mozammel Haque, a commander of the Bangladesh navy said, “Around 4,000 refugees have already been sent to the island since December, but we have the capacity of accommodating 100,000. The process will continue until we fulfill it”. Rear Admiral Haque said the refugees on the island were being well treated and they can also earn through cattle or poultry rearing and also engage in handicraft making. He added, “They will be checked by our doctors when they arrive today. They will be given food and accommodation properly”.
The island to which the Rohingya refugees are relocated is several hours drive from the southern port and the island surfaced from the sea just two decades ago and was not previously inhabited. Hence, it is prone to floods and storms. Without government approval, the Rohingya minority group who escaped violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are not permitted to travel from the island.
