Govt to list all Rohingya refugees for ‘temporary housing’ at Thengar Char

The government is preparing a list of the documented and undocumented Rohingyas to be moved on a 'temporary arrangement' to Thengar Char before being sent back to Myanmar.
The plan to move long-term refugees to Thengar Char was first suggested in 2015, but was shelved after widespread condemnation by the HR bodies. However, government revived the plan in early February 2017 following the new influx of Rohingya refugees.
However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed alarm over the revival of this plan, and said that any relocation of the refugees to Thengar Char must be voluntary.
"We are working on this locality for the last two years and everything would be done through a consultative process after a feasibility study has been completed. And relocation of the refugees to Thengar Char must be voluntary�to implement it we want international community's support," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer preferring anonymity.
State minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh's decision to gradually relocate the documented and undocumented Rohingyas to Noakhali's Hatiya Island will be a 'temporary arrangement', on 'humanitarian ground'.
"This is a very temporary arrangement that we need to make. We want Myanmar to take back their nationals at the earliest possible time," he said.
Bangladesh has resurrected a plan to relocate thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine State to an island called Hatiya to prevent them from "intermingling" with Bangladeshi citizens.
Earlier, the government formed several committees to look at the influx of Rohingya Muslims, which the country fears could lead to law and order issues as they mix with local residents.
According to the Foreign and Home Ministry, Rohingyas have started entering Bangladesh since the Myanmar army inflicted torture, killing, rape and arson attacks on the villages of the minority Muslims. Bangladesh government has allowed in refugees on humanitarian ground and the Rohingya influx is continuing, since the November incident. Around 69,000 people have fled Myanmar and entered Bangladesh.
"Hundreds were killed in communal clashes in Rakhine in 2012, exposing a lack of oversight of the military by the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Moreover, the Annan Commission also found that the Myanmar police is implementing "Muslim cleansing operation in Rakhine State. " The diplomatic community in Dhaka called it "genocide" and said that the clash between the Rakhine State and police would not stop soon,"  a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said.
Thengar Chor was apparently chosen because of its distance from inhabited areas - it is 30 kilometers from the populated Hatiya Island and a long journey from the existing Rohingya camps, a Foreign Ministry official said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh sought international support to implement its decision to relocate the documented and undocumented Rohingyas to Noakhali's Hatiya Island on 'temporary' basis on 'humanitarian ground'.
Since October 2016, nearly 69,000 Rohingyas from Rakhine State in Myanmar have entered Bangladesh to escape attacks by Myanmar security forces, including unlawful killings, sexual violence and wholesale destruction of villages.  
Around 400,000 Myanmar nationals have been in Bangladesh for years, living in two camps in Cox's Bazar, while about five lakh undocumented Rohingyas are living elsewhere, according to the Home Ministry.
Bangladesh has a 274 kilometers border with Myanmar. Of them, 210 kilometres are of highway connectivity and the rest 64km of river-way connectivity. Almost all areas are open in Bangladesh's border side. Following such attacks on police outposts the Rakhine citizens have taken shelter in Bangladesh for ages.
Bangladesh is regularly expressing deep concern at the continued influx of Muslims from Rakhine called 'Rohingya' into Bangladesh apart from tightening border deployment.
"Failed to get any assurance from Myanmar government in returning home of the displaced population of Rakhine State, Bangladesh sought help from the international community, including the United Nations and the European Union in particular, the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss possible actions on the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar but yet to get any visible effort from their side," a senior official of the Home Ministry said.
"Bangladesh will reiterate its position and seek a permanent solution to the Rohingya issue as the trade-business and diplomatic relation between Bangladesh and Myanmar is struggling for five decades due to border tension, lack of confidence that mostly based on Rohingya issue although Bangladesh is trying to build up the relation for building measures to prevent actual border incidents and increase trade and investment for economic development for these two countries," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer.