Intelligence agencies found the involvement of several local and international NGOs in manipulating the vulnerable Rohingyas, persecuted Myanmar nationals of the Rakhine State, now camped at Kutupalong in Cox's Bazar.
Thousands of Rohingyas staged massive demonstrations for three consecutive days at Ukhiya demanding that the international community step up pressure on Myanmar to meet their demands.
A high official of an Intelligence agency told The Daily Observer on Thursday that some of the listed local and international NGOs worked actively to organize the demonstrations at Ukhiya. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday alleged that some international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) are hatching conspiracies in favour of Myanmar over the Rohingya issue.
According to the intelligence agencies, the Rohingyas have survived a horrific situation at home, so their mental condition is such that some of them will definitely turn rebellious.
Taking the opportunity of their disturbed life some of the local and international NGOs were trying their best to misguide them. Some of those organizations have been banned by the Bureau of NGO Affairs.
Camps in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, currently accommodating 1.1 million Rohingyas, including 743,000, who fled the brutal military crackdown in Rakhine since August 25 in 2017, have turned into hotbeds of crime. Criminal gangs, active in the camps, often lock into bloody confrontations over control of markets, Yaba smuggling, and human trafficking.
Meanwhile, after the influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh the law and order situation seriously deteriorated in and around Cox's Bazar as well as in other districts across the country.
All alleged crimes are being committed by at least 34 different terror groups with the help of some locals and unscrupulous law enforcing agency men, sources said.
To control crime, police lodged 471 cases in the last two years, accusing 1,088 camp inmates.
Law enforcers say that the crime rates have soared in all the 34 Rohingya camps. Due to the radical acts of some Rohingyas, others live in terror. Criminal gangs, active in the camps, often lock into bloody confrontations over control of markets, Yaba smuggling and human trafficking.
A total of 43 Rohingyas were killed in the last two years in what have been described as internal conflicts among these gangs. During this period, 32 others were killed in alleged gunfights with security forces.
At present, 86 local and 36 international NGOs are implementing various projects along with 11 UN agencies at various Rohingya camps.
In 2017, three NGOs were banned by the Bureau of NGO Affairs from their relief activities in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. In early 2018, 12 NGOs including Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Society for Health Extension and Development (SHED), LESOM were banned from conducting relief works in the Rohingya camps.
Then, after few months, in later part of 2018, forty-one NGOs were banned and were ordered not to continue with their humanitarian assistance operations for Rohingya people who are currently residing in Bangladesh.
Secondly, some of the NGOs were banned because they were trying to manipulate the vulnerable Rohingyas to their own cause.
Thirdly, some of the NGOs were banned because they were motivating the Rohingyas not to go back to their country, Myanmar. Basically, this is not the job of the NGOs to suggest those people, where they should go or not.
In the first stage, the Bureau set a framework for the local and international aid organizations as to how they should be operated in the Rohingya camps. The Bureau asked the organizations to focus on humanitarian activities and not to involve with anti-state, anti-government or anti-repatriation activities. Though the Bureau didn't make it clear why those organizations are banned, it is assumed that some of the NGOs breached the frame-work.
According to section 15 of the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Law-2016, they were banned from their activities in those Rohingya camps. However, the NGOs are not banned completely. They are banned from their activities in the Rohingya camps. They will be able to continue with their activities in other parts of the country.
