The influx of persecuted Rohingyas continues unabated with little signs of any improvement in the overall crisis. Until now around 700,000 Myanmar citizens have entered Bangladesh for shelter since 1978. Of them, over 500,000 crossed the international border after the August 25 military crackdown on Rohingya villages in Myanmar. The rest 2,11,523 have been staying in registered and improvised refugee camps since the 1990s. The number of fresh Rohingya Muslims' arrivals is feared to reach a total of 1,000,000 by next December. Against this backdrop, dealing with the crisis is proving a daunting task for Bangladesh. The apparently unremitting challenge posed by the fleeing Rohingyas has caught the nation completely unawares. That Bangladesh may have to brace for the worse on account of Myanmar refugees has already become common knowledge. The daily news, pictures and TV footage showing the influx and the desperate struggle for getting relief materials only add to the nation's increasing worries and misgivings.
A highly worrying aspect of the ongoing crisis comprises aimless roaming by the Rohingyas in different parts of Ukhia in the Cox's Bazar district. Most of them being new entrants, they are yet to be registered and sent to designated shelters at the main camp in Ukhia. The grimness of the problem has been amply elucidated last week by Finance Minister AMA Muhith. Before visiting a Rohingya camp at Thaingkhali at Kutupalong in Ukhia for distributing relief goods, the minister at a stop-over highlighted some Rohingya-related challenges facing Bangladesh. Apart from making a list of Rohingyas looking for urgent succour, there is a need for reaching relief to remote areas and preparing lists of the refugees already attacked by epidemic diseases and those who are vulnerable. He also stressed taking measures to prevent human and drug trafficking, and recruitment of Roningyas by unscrupulous quarters for dishonest purposes. As the stay of the Rohingyas in the country is feared to get prolonged, a lot of yet-undetected hazards may eventually come to the fore. The country has become accustomed to the problem since 1978 but times and realities have changed over the last four decades.
With no link to scourges like drug smuggling, women trafficking, terror activities etc., the Rohingya community in general back then could hope to be accepted by the people in the greater Cox's Bazar area. The unending influx of the community has put enormous stress on the accommodating facilities. As a consequence, trees are seen being felled indiscriminately on the slopes of hills to make room for raising ramshackle shelters. Desperate refugees are involved in these acts, with support from money-minting local syndicates. Small hills also have allegedly been levelled for the refugees. According to conservationists, these illegal acts add to the deterioration of the already fragile environment in the hilly refugee-filled areas.
During the past waves of Rohingya influxes, a lot of today's adversities were unknown. As a lot of new emergencies are cropping up, the local authorities in cooperation with the UN and other agencies should work out time-befitting preventive measures. The foremost task, however, is to formulate an effective plan for safe repatriation of these star-crossed people.
