Rohingya influx swells further

The influx of Rohingyas into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar began on August 25 sharply swelled further on Monday while 14 more bodies of fleeing ethnic minority people drowned in the River Naf were recovered.
At least 50,000 Rohingyas, mostly from Buthidaung, deep into Rakhine state, fled to Bangladesh through land borders at Palangkhali of Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar. 
They said that thousands more Rohingays were still waiting in forests and on hill slopes in Myanmar to contact with fellows already entered Bangladesh.
Rohingays entering Bangladesh said that they left their country as violence continued and they were almost starving back in their homeland. 
They added that they had to dodge barriers of Myanmar authorities while fleeing to Bangladesh. 
Local people said that Rohingya exodus slowed down after mid September but slightly swelled in the past week. The highest number of Myanmar nationals, however, entered Bangladesh on Monday, in a single day in the past fortnight.
Many from Buthidaung are also taking dangerous sea route to flee to Bangladesh risking life. 
A boat sailed from Dongkhalir Char in Buthidaung capsized in the River Naf near Golar Para Char of Shah Parir Dwip Sunday night leaving at least 13 –– 10 children, 2 women and a man –– drowned.
Teknaf police officer-in-charge Md Mainuddin on Monday evening said that two bodies were recovered Sunday night and 11 were recovered on Monday while rescue operation was on as several were still missing.
International Organisation for Migration said that there were about 60 Rohingays aboard the 20-metre wooden fishing boat when it left Myanmar under cover of darkness.
The overloaded boat, which would normally carry 20 people, was swamped by high waves and winds in a sudden monsoon storm, survivors said.
The incident took to 146 the number of fleeing Rohingyas, mostly women and children, drowned in the bay and the River Naf since August 25.
Rohingya new arrivals alleged that Myanmar security forces and Buddhist mobs continued to terrorise them into leaving the country.
They said that Buddhists were looting frequently, taking away their food grains to force them to leave the country.
‘We were hiding in forest to save life but there were no alternative for us leaving the country when they started to rob our foods,’ said Farid Alam, who fled from Buthidaung trekking through hills and huge forests for eight days.
Border Guard Bangladesh battalion 34 commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Manzurul Hassan Khan said that Rohingya influx on
Monday swelled sharply.
He said that Rohingyas were alleging that they saw bodies of dozens of Rohingyas the track while fleeing to Bangladesh.
Palangkhali union parishad chairman Gafor Uddin Chowdhury estimated that at least 50,000 Rohingyas, mostly from Buthidaung, fled to Bangladesh on Monday.
According to UN estimation on Sunday, 5,19,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the past six weeks in the new influx what the United Nations called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency.
Officials estimated that the new influx already took to 9.37 lakh the number of Myanmar people living in Bangladesh until Sunday.
The new influx began after Myanmar security forces responded to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s reported attacks on August 25 by launching a violence that the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing.
The Bangladesh government with the assistance of World Health Organisation and UNICEF is set to begin world’s second largest oral cholera vaccination campaign in Cox’s Bazar to avert any outbreak of the diseases today.
About 9,00,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine for more than 6,50,000 Rohingyas are now in Cox’s Bazar.
‘Everyone aged one year and above will get a dose of oral cholera vaccine’ said health minister Mohammad Nasim.
The first round of vaccination will be conducted in October 10-16 and the second in October 31-November 5, where children aged 1-5, about 2.5 lakh in number, will receive the vaccine, he said.
Terrified, half-starved, exhausted Rohingyas continued entering Bangladesh in groups trekking through hills and crossing rough sea and the River Naf on boat and taking shelter wherever they could in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban.
Many Rohingyas took shelter at makeshift camps in reserved forests, felling trees, setting up shanties on hill slopes while some of them took shelter at overcrowded registered and unregistered camps.
New Age on Monday found that thousands of Rohingyas were entering Bangladesh through different areas of Palangkhali.
Abdul Jabbar, 50, a resident of Prong Bazar area of Buthidaung, said that Myanmar authorities adopted a propaganda campaign about efforts to stop the exodus providing relief materials.
‘They are distributing reliefs and after the photo session they are taking away those materials,’ he alleged. 
He also alleged that Buddhists and others were raiding empty houses and looting belongings of Rohingyas.
‘They are looting food, cattle and others from our houses. We need to hide in forest for several days before setting out journeys toward Bangladesh,’ said Taslima, 15.
The UN migration agency in a statement on October 6 said that observers believed that 1,00,000 more Rohingyas might be waiting to cross into Cox’s Bazar from Buthidaung.
Reuters reported from Myebon in Myanmar that Buddhist villagers in relatively peaceful parts of Rakhine state were enforcing a system of local apartheid that punished people trading with ethnic minority Muslims, fuelling fears that violence in the far northwest could spread to new areas.
Ethnic Rakhines, who form the majority in central parts of the state, have set up committees in several districts that have meted out sanctions ranging from fines to public beatings and expulsions. They say the measures are necessary to protect their communities from Rohingya insurgents.
Muslim residents say they are being cut off from essential supplies and accuse authorities of turning a blind eye. Aid workers fear thousands will attempt to escape via perilous sea routes to Thailand and Malaysia when the monsoon rains abate.
About 250,000 Rohingyas live in central Rakhine, an area not directly affected by the ongoing military offensive that has forced more than half a million people to flee to Bangladesh.
‘In the current situation, it’s not possible for different communities to live together,’ said Ashin Saromani, a Buddhist monk in the central Rakhine town of Myebon, where one such committee was set up at a meeting in a monastery.
Rakhine state government spokesman Min Aung said that he was not aware of efforts to punish Buddhists who had contact with Muslims. He said that he thought tensions could best be eased by interfaith community groups.
‘Other states and regions have interfaith groups working for peace. In Rakhine there’s no group like that,’ he said. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net