Rohingya return starts today

Bangladesh and Myanmar are going to begin Rohingya repatriating process from this (Thursday) morning.
The first batch of 150 Rohingyas will be repatriated despite the United Nations refugee agency stressing that their return should be voluntary and based on the displaced group's knowledge of conditions there. "It will start from Thursday, UNHCR is not a party here, we (Bangladesh) are the host and on the other side Myanmar is there. We both agreed to start the repatriation which is going to take place from Thursday," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahrier Alam told the Daily Observer on ednesday.

UNHCR is claiming that Rohingyas were fleeing Bangladeshi refugee camps to avoid being repatriated to Myanmar.
The UN Agency has also said it will not be facilitating the repatriations. In a statement on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said before the Rohingyas agree to return, they should be allowed to make 'go-and-see' visits to Rahkine. "We sat with their (UNHCR) officials and discussed the issue. We agreed and we decided that this is the right time and so we are keen to start the task and complete the tasks as per PM's guideline what the primer presented in the UN summit," the junior minister said. According to the UN, there are now nearly 900,000 refugees from Myanmar living in camps at Cox's Bazar.

They have crossed over the border from Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August 2017, following a violent crackdown by the military and the Buddhist locals which saw their villages razed to the ground, women raped and thousands killed. The Foreign Ministry said the authorities concerned had built two repatriation centres -- one on the bank of Naf River at Kerantoli of Teknaf in Cox's Bazar and the other at Ghundhum, a bordering area under Naikhyangchhari Upazila of Bandarban.

Each centre has 33 semi-pucca rooms for refugees. "Initially 2,260 Rohingyas of 485 families verified by Myanmar will be taken to these two centres from the camps before repatriation," Bangladesh's Refugee Repatriation and Rehabilitation Commissioner Abul Kalam said. Our local correspondent talked with Nurul Islam, a Rohingya community leader in Unchiprang refugee camp, Cox's Bazar, who said up to 50 families in the vicinity had gone into hiding. Many Rohingya families told the correspondent that they did not want to return under the current conditions. "Fear, confusion remains but we could say that Rohingya return will start from tomorrow (today)," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said.