At least 500,000 undocumented Rohingyas are staying in different parts of the country but there are no official count of the Rohingya refugees who streamed into the country to escape persecution in Myanmar,
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Thursday Bangladesh is yet to have an official count of the Rohingyas. Citing a UN report that says 65,000 Rohingya Muslims entered the country to escape persecution in Myanmar, he said the number "is yet to be officially verified."
He said while talking to journalists at the conference of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commanding officers at its Pilkhana Headquarters in capital Dhaka.
Last Tuesday, at the Parliament, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said around 67,000 Rohingyas fled into Bangladesh to flee the persecution in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. Home Minister Kamal had said over 5,000 Rohingyas were pushed back since
October 8.
The government has said it is continuing talks with Myanmar urging the neighbouring country to take back its stranded nationals.
Around 32,000 registered Rohingyas are now living in two refugee camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. The government has introduced free education up to Class VI, vocational skills training, computer training, and primary and secondary healthcare to prepare the Rohingyas for a better life when they voluntarily return to their homeland.
At least 1.5 lakh Rohingya refugees are living in two slums surrounding Rohingya refugee camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. At least 350,000 Rohingyas are living in different parts of the Cox's Bazar district. Rest of the Rohingya refugees are living in different parts including Chittagong.
The United Nations says that some 32,000 Rohingyas have recently fled to Bangladesh. Sources in Cox's Bazar said quoting the homeless Myanmar people that at least 100 Rohingyas have been killed and 50,000 displaced.
Abu Kashim, Executive Director of HELP, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at Cox's Bazar said at least 3.5 lakh Rohingyas are living in different parts of the Cox's Bazar district. Meanwhile, nobody has the real number of Rohingyas in the country.
The officials said that since Bangladesh is already hosting a huge number of Rohingyas from Myanmar, it cannot take in any more refugees.
Amid escalating violence in Myanmar, Rohingyas are continuing to attempt to cross the border into Bangladesh.
The BGB has sent nearly 5,000 Rohingyas between November 1 January 31, source said. Meanwhile, at least 30,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar have entered in the country.
The Myanmar army has declared the Muslim Rohingya-majority northern Rakhine State as an "operation zone", where it claims to be battling Islamist insurgents.
A military crackdown began after nine border police personnel were killed in attacks by 'insurgents' at three outposts on October 9.
The United Nations says that as many as 30,000 Rohingyas have fled across the border into Bangladesh since then.
Sources in Cox's Bazar, quoting the homeless Myanmar people, said some Rohingyas are feared to have drowned in the Naf river during bids to flee the ethnic cleaning in Myanmar's Rakhine State (bordering Cox's Bazar).
