Five Rohingyas were killed early Friday in a gunfight between two criminal groups over Jockeying for dominance in a Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar.
There was a gunfight between two armed factions, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO). However, the criminals fled the scene before police arrival and five people were found shot at the scene.
Multiple terrorist groups are active at the camp site, a police official on the spot said. Several killings happened across the refugee camps in the last six years. One hundred thirty Rohingyas were killed in the last six years while 112 others including three women died in gunfights with security forces.
We are witnessing bloodshed in the camps for no reason, while drugs are being trafficked in from Myanmar. Earlier, the killing of Mohammad Mohib Ullah, a prominent community leader who campaigned for the Rohingya’s safe repatriation, brought the issue of security and crimes in the camps into sharp focus both at home and abroad.
After the murder some measures were taken to bring the security situation under control. But the steps could not stop criminal activities there yet. The growing violence and crimes can go beyond control, if immediate measure is not taken in this regard.
Necessary steps should
be taken to beef up
security in and around
the Rohingya camps
Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district and most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and other rights groups dubbed as "genocide". Since then, several Rohingyas formed at least 20 gangs, who are now involved in serious crimes like arms and drugs peddling, human trafficking, gold smuggling, kidnapping and killing. They are also committing robbery, burglary, cyber crime, sexual harassment and running illegal SIM and hundi trading.
These organised displaced Rohingya armed groups are also running juvenile gangs in order to serve their purposes. Besides, they are also grabbing the local people’s lands in many ways.
Apart from law and order, the environment of Ukhia in Cox's Bazar, which has a deep forest, has been ruined due to staying the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals. Myanmar, however, has not taken back a single Rohingya in the last six years yet while repatriation attempts failed twice due to trust deficit among the forcibly displaced people about their safety and security in Rakhine state.
Bangladesh provided shelter to the Rohingyas on humanitarian ground. But now they are a big burden for Bangladesh. Local people of Cox's Bazar are facing serious difficulties and sufferings because of them
The Rohingya camps should be raided regularly to maintain law and order situation with immediate effect. Simultaneously, the world must take necessary measures to compel Myanmar to create conditions enabling the Rohingyas’ safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation to their homeland.
