Bangladesh tells international charities to stop aiding Rohingyas

[Rifat]

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DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh told three international aid agencies on Thursday not to help thousands of Rohingyas Muslims who have been fleeing into Bangladesh to escape violence in neighbouring Myanmar.

France's Médecins Sans Frontières, British-based Muslim Aid and Action Against Hunger were told about the ban by Joynul Bari, commissioner of the southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar, which he said was meant to discourage illegal migration from strife-torn Myanmar.

Bari said the directive came from Bangladesh's NGO (non-governmental organisation) Affairs Bureau which regulates aid groups.

The charities were not immediately available for comment, but have already faced pressure not to aid a new influx of Rohingyas.

Longstanding tensions between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas boiled over in Myanmar's Rakhine state in early June, resulting in a series of arson and machete attacks in which authorities say 77 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

Myanmar security forces killed, raped or carried out mass arrests of Rohingyas after the violence started, New York-based Human Rights Watch said, raising questions about the government's ability to manage an ethnically diverse nation emerging from decades strict military rule.

There are at least 800,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar but they are not recognised as one of its ethnic groups.

Majority-Muslim Bangladesh has sought to turn back Rohingyas from entering the country, fearing an exodus from Myanmar, and police on Thursday arrested nine Rohingyas from a hotel in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

Nearly 30,000 Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh in the early 1990s to escape alleged persecution by Myanmar's military junta now live in two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar run by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Bangladesh officials said there is a floating population of hundreds of thousands Rohingyas living illegally in Cox's Bazar.

A Cox's Bazar resident told Reuters on Thursday that Rohingyas are still trickling in to Bangladesh by sea and forests along the border, ignoring a warning by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that new refugees will be turned away.

"We can take no more refugees" she told parliament last month.

(Reporting by Anis Ahmed; Editing by Ed Lane)

I am very upset by this action.

[Zunaid]

This is shameful.

[NoName]

We look like the biggest hypocrites in the world right now, its saddening that we're already turning refugees back towards their deaths, now this.

[al Furqaan]

This seems like it goes beyond protecting self interest and into the territory of willfully screwing refugees over.

[Sohel]

We look like the biggest hypocrites because that's exactly what many of us ARE.

[Antora]

- Disgraceful act by Bangladesh.

[al Furqaan]

This may even be criminal from a purely legal viewpoint. Its no different than Sudan telling the UN/AU to not help Darfur refugees.

[BengaliPagol]

Bangladesh are already overpopulated as it is. I dont see the harm in introducing another 1000 refugees into the country which we call help them take aid.

[NoName]

If BD is refusing because from a financial standpoint, then that is no excuse because many organizations/charities are willing to pay for the costs as well.

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by BengaliPagol
Bangladesh are already overpopulated as it is. I dont see the harm in introducing another 1000 refugees into the country which we call help them take aid.

800,000. I can see why the PM is not letting them into BD. Ekbar BDtey dhukley ar jabey na such as Biharis.

But, the govt. shouldnt tell aid organizations to stop their work

[cricheart]

I wish these stateless Rohingyas dont get into terrorism acts in BD. We allready suffered lot in a long run dispute & war in Chittagong hill tracts area with indegenous people living there. Events like this spreads hate seeds amoung certain groups with fear where Myanmar has a clear agenda on this & easy to speculate their current/future influences.

[WorldCup11]

Some heartbreaking images of Rohinga tortures

http://www.qwled.com/vb/t257785.html



http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-a...#ixzz21Zd8mmBB


http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=...er&FotoID=4038

[WorldCup11]

[al Furqaan]

There doesn't seem to be much written in the Bangladeshi media on the issue...most sources are foreign (Arab, Pakistani, Turkish). Shameful that Bangladeshis don't wish to defend their own.

[WorldCup11]

Bhaire, does not matter if they are our own or not, does not matter if they are muslim or hindu or buddist. They are Human being . We need to stand beside the humans that need our help.

We need to be good human first.

[al Furqaan]

At least KSA has stepped up now...

RIYADH | Sun Aug 12, 2012 7:26am EDT

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered $50 million in aid be sent to a Muslim minority in Myanmar which a human rights group said has been targeted by the authorities since sectarian riots in June.

A report on the Saudi state news agency said the Rohingya community had been "exposed to many violations of human rights including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement".

"King Abdullah ... has ordered that assistance of the amount of $50 million be provided to the Rohingya Muslim citizens in Myanmar," said the report which was carried by Saudi media on Sunday. It did not say who was to blame for the abuses.

However, Human Rights Watch said on August 1 that the Rohingyas had suffered mass arrests, killings and rapes at the hands of the Myanmar security forces. The minority had borne the brunt of a crackdown after days of arson and machete attacks in June by both Buddhists and Rohingyas in Rakhine state, the monitoring group said.

Myanmar, where at least 800,000 Rohingyas are not recognized as one of the country's many ethnic and religious groups, has said it exercised "maximum restraint" in quelling the riots.

Saudi Arabia sees itself as a guardian of global Muslim interests thanks to being the birthplace of Islam and home to some of the religion's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. However, Riyadh also regularly draws criticism from campaigners for its lack of democracy.

Last week the Saudi cabinet condemned the violence against Muslims in northwest Myanmar and at a meeting on July 31, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the kingdom's second city of Jeddah urged members to send Rohingya Muslims aid.

The OIC is holding a summit in Mecca on Tuesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...87B06V20120812