Bangladesh warns Rohingya to steer clear of criminal activities

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh on Monday warned Rohingya refugees not to get involved in any criminal or terrorist activities and to live peacefully in their host country until they are repatriated to their home in neighboring Myanmar's Rakhine state.

“We don’t want to see any terrorists here (Rohingya camps), and we don’t want to see any bloodshed here. This is a tourist place,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar, also home to over 1 million Rohingya.

He also urged the persecuted Rohingya to live in peace in Cox’s Bazar and to avoid trouble.

“Don’t shed blood and create panic here, as many tourists frequently come to this place,” Kamal said.

Nearly 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017 to Bangladesh, pushing the total number of persecuted people in the world’s largest refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar to around 1.2 million.

Separately, Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forces early Monday raided an illegal arms factory in a hilly forest near the refugee camps in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar and arrested three Rohingya and seized 10 firearms.

There was a gun battle during the raid, according to police sources.

In September, an unidentified armed group killed popular Rohingya leader Md. Mohibullah, who was also head of the Rohingya rights group Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights and an active advocate for his people’s peaceful repatriation

In October, six Rohingya were also murdered at a camp-based Islamic madrasa seminary by a group of terrorists.

Rohingya leaders and experts have urged the international community to ensure sustainable repatriation and until then livelihoods and education including higher education facilities for the Rohingya.