Hapless Rohingyas float on Naaf as world watches silently!

Thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar are floating in boats on the River Naaf, near Teknaf Upazila on the Bay of Bengal, as the world along with Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remain silent.
Voices of anger are being raised at home and abroad. Everyone feels something has to be done to end the sufferings of the persecuted people, to stop the tears of thousands of raped women in the Rakhain State of Myanmar, help those men and children in need at a time when an upsurge of violence has brought the total number of dead to more than 130 till date.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahrier Alam said Bangladesh is completely ready to discuss with Myanmar government about their nationals illegally living in Bangladesh. Bangladesh and Myanmar have been working for solving the long-term problem with the illegal residents of Myanmar in Bangladesh.
"Despite not having so much economic capacity, Bangladesh has been showing sympathy to the Rohingyas at the time of their crisis in Myanmar. Rohingyas have been given shelter in Bangladesh. Bangladesh received 550,000 Myanmar's nationals when Bangladesh was not economically well off," Shairier said.
According to the media report, in Myanmar, which is 90 per cent Buddhist, there is little sympathy to be found for the Rohingya cause, and expressing support could be political suicide for both Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and the military-backed previous ruling party.
A party source close to Aung San Suu Kyi, who asked not to be named, said the party leader was deeply upset over what was happening. But the source said she also understood the penalty for being seen as favouring Muslims and believed she needed to be in government to deal with the backlash.
There is a strong belief that powerful people with close links to radical monks are deliberately stirring up tensions between communities in an attempt to disrupt ongoing political reforms.
Analyzing the situation, former ambassador Muhammad Jamir said Bangladesh was waiting patiently for a proper solution to the issue.
"The diplomatic activities of Bangladesh will be accelerated to put pressure on Myanmar through the international community. Bangladesh will give importance to the bilateral meetings between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the Rohingya issue in the days to come," Shahrier Alam said.
The Myanmar government's official newspaper, Global New Light reported on the crisis for the first time on its Tuesday's edition, in a further sign that the government is moderating its rejectionist position. The daily quoted the information minister, Ye Htut, as telling foreign ambassadors that Burma would cooperate with regional and international counterparts "to tackle the ongoing boat people crisis, which is a consequence of human trafficking of people from Rakhine state and Bangladesh to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"The Myanmar government will scrutinise the boat people and bring back those who can show evidences of citizenship," the Myanmar minister said.
Former ambassador Humayun Kabir said a few hundred thousand Rohingyas have become victims of oppression of the Myanmar's Army and ethnic conflicts, which rendered them homeless in Myanmar, and have started to intrude into Bangladesh since 1992. At present the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has stood at 550,000, who have been living in the different places of Chittagong.
However, UNHCR said the number of refugees worldwide has reached at 22 million. The position of the neighbouring Myanmar is sixth from the aspect of the source of refugees all over the world.
"The number of Rohingya refugees is continuing to rise in Bangladesh, which has become a major cause of concern for Bangladesh, and affects our country's economy. On the other hand, all those Rohingya refugees coming from Myanmar, deprived of the minimum basic needs of life, are involved in various illegal activities in Bangladesh. Some of them are fleeing abroad on the sea way illegally for better living| and tarnishing the image of Bangladesh in the world. In this context, the government will also have to take initiative to cope with this kind of situation," Humayun Kabir added.
According to the UNHCR data, Some 32,975 registered refugees in Kutupalong and Nayapara, two government-run camps near Cox's Bazar, are relying on regular distributions of food rations and relief items such as shelter and clothing. Basic water, sanitation and health services are provided by the government, UNHCR and its partners.
Following a military crackdown in western Myanmar on November 9, UNHCR has repeatedly appealed to the government of Bangladesh to exempt all undocumented Rohingyas from the jurisdiction of the Foreigners' Act 1946 in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Act. As unregistered Rohingyas, they fall under the application of the Foreigners Act and as such they are treated as "illegal immigrants" under the Bangladeshi legal system.
According to Sharier Alam at present about 550,000 unregistered Myanmar's Nationals are staying in Bangladesh. The government of Myanmar has some apathy in recognizing them as citizens of Myanmar. Apart from that there are 32,975 registered refugees in Bangladesh, Among them 2,300 people were confirmed by the Myanmar government as citizens of Myanmar and all of them were supposed to go back to Myanmar. But the reality is now none of them wants to go back home anymore because of adverse circumstances.
He said most of the unregistered Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh have already been involved with the different type of terrorist activities. In addition to this, they are being used in various illegal activities.
"Bangladesh has no responsibility of these citizens of Myanmar. If the territory, population and economic condition of Bangladesh are considered, then it is very difficult to give shelter to half a million illegal nationals of Myanmar in Bangladesh. However, as Muslim people in their affliction, they have been given shelter in Bangladesh. It can be said an emergency measure," he added.