New
Age Islam Special Correspondent
24
March 2021
Smoke rises following a fire at the
Rohingya refugee camp in Balukhali [Shafiqur Rahman/AP]
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There
seems to be no end to the miseries of the Rohingya refugees living in
Bangladesh since 2017. A devastating fire that broke out in one of the homes in
Cox Bazar's Balukhali Refugee camp on Tuesday afternoon killed at least 15
people including 6 children and gutted 17000 homes rendering about 45,000
refugee shelters. 400 people have been injured and another 400 have been
missing. The refugees have taken shelter in Cox Bazar and Teknaf hills and
forests. They are being taken to safe places. Search for the missing people is on.
The
administration says the fire may have broken out due to a gas cylinder but some
refugees say that the fire was pre-planned and was the work of Rohingya
extremists who did not want the transportation of Rohingyas to Bhasanchar
Island.
However,
this does not sound convincing. After the shelters have been razed down by
fire, the government have reason to shift the refugees to Bhasanchar where
homes have been built for them. Presently, 13000 Rohingyas are living in
Bhasanchar whereas the island has one lakh homes. The government wants to
transport all the 1.1 million Rohingyas to Bhasanchar but due to several
reasons, majority of Rohingyas don't want to go to Bhasanchar. One reason is
that it is like an open air prison. Secondly, the island is flood and cyclone
prone.
15 dead, 560 injured in massive fire
at Rohingya refugee camp (AP Photo)
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This
fire is devastating but it is not the first incident of fire breaking out in
Cox Bazar Refugee camps. Two incidents of fire have already happened in January
this year. Tuesday's fire was the third in four days. This raises doubts as
frequent fires in refugee camps cannot be a coincident. These fires have
occured after the process of transportation of refugees to Bhasanchar island
began.
The
Rohingya extremist organisations, particularly the ARSA had been conducting
targetted killing, abductions and arson in the Cox Bazar camps. Clashes between
rival drug mafia groups also resulted in murders and abductions. They also ran
extortion racket. But in Bhasanchar, these extremist gangs cannot enter and run
extortion rackets or jihadi propaganda. That's why the Rohingyas living in
Bhasanchar are feeling safe and relieved in the absence of these extremists and
drug mafia. Therefore, the drug mafia and jihadi groups would be the last to
compel them to go to Bhasanchar.
The
UNHRC is also perturbed by the frequent occurrence of fires in the refugee
camps. The reports of committees that investigated the previous fires have not
come out. This also raises doubts on the intentions of the Bangladesh
government.
It is
also known to the world that the Bangladesh givernment was very eager to
transport all the refugees from the mainland to the island though the UN had
expressed reservations about the safety and security and amenities provided
there and had requested the Bangladesh government to allow its representatives
to go to Bhasanchar to assess the hospitability of the Island. But the
Bangladesh government did not allow it and so humanitarian work was hampered.
Bangladesh
government sent representatives of NGOs of Bangladesh who gave a clean chit to
the government. After that some Rohingyas agreed to relocate. Still a majority
of them don't want to relocate to Bhasanchar due to many reasons. They want to
remain in the mainland despite hardships and problems.
The
UNHRC should take serious note of the frequent fires in Cox Bazar refugee camps
and conduct its own investigation into the causes of the fires. The world
should know if the fire was an accident, a terrorist act or an 'inside job' to
compel refugees to relocate to Bhasanchar against their wish?.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/massive-fire-rohingya-refugee-camps/d/124598
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