Bangladesh prepares strategy paper for Rohingyas

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Bangladesh prepares strategy paper for Rohingyas
TUESDAY, 04 JUNE 2013 16:57 KALANDAN NEWS - KALADAN PRESS E-MAIL | PRINT | PDF

Bangladesh prepares strategy paper for Rohingyas

The Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared a draft strategy paper about the thousands of illegal Rohingyas that are currently residing in the country. The report that includes a total of 25 proposals has already been sent to relevant government ministries for their opinion, Foreign Secretary in-charge Shahidul Haque told reporters on May 24.

“We are waiting for feedback from the ministers concerned on the draft. After getting their views, we will finalize it for our next course of actions.”

The draft must be reviewed by the inter-ministry coordination body, prior to being approved by cabinet.

Haque said these issues will also be discussed during the 2nd annual Bangladesh-United States partnership dialogue that runs from May 26-28. But he warned that they “will not discuss the strategy paper in the meeting”.

Cabinet suggested that the foreign ministry to include a special law in the report that will punish those providing shelter and support to illegal Rohingya Muslims. Some amendments of the initial proposals were made to include this, according to sources within the foreign ministry.

“Those who provide shelter and support to Rohingya people must be brought under the law,” said Shahidul Haque.

NGOs helping Rohingyas will also not be allowed to provide assistance in the areas where they live without first attaining legal permission from the government, according to the report.

A provision that was included to enforce this, and also stop illegal entries, was forming task forces assigned to districts and upazila located in the concerned areas. These task forces, which will fall under the leadership of deputy commissioners (DCs) or upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs), will make monthly trips in these areas to ensure these provisions are carried out, stated the strategy paper.

The draft paper also recommended for a barbed wire fence to be built separating Bangladesh from Myanmar along a 50- kilometer embankment on the bank of the Naf River. This will make it easier for border enforcement.

International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) currently operating in the refugee camps should be replaced by local NGOs like Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, according to the report.

The paper also recommended conducting a survey to determine the exact number of refugees in the country, and also how many are illegally entering the country from Myanmar. After the survey is completed those counted will be kept in shelters awaiting repatriation.

According to the report, around 500,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh following ethnic and religious conflicts in 1978-79 and 1991-92. Most were repatriated but about 30,000 still live in Nayapara and Kutuppalong refugee camps.

Bangladesh government officials claim to spend more than Tk 300 million providing food and support for residents of the 2 official camps in the country.

Rohingyas seeking refuge in Bangladesh have tainted the country’s international image, according to the report. To protect national interests the government has decided to not allow any more refugees to enter Bangladesh.

In the last 7 years, its estimated that 300,000 Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar have entered Bangladesh. Many also tried to enter the country after sectarian violence in Arakan state broke out in June and October of last year.

 

[mb444]

Throw out all the Burmese from Bangladesh and settle the rohingyas there. We have a moral and religious duties to help them.

 

[arp2041]

BD should attack Myanmar & capture huge landmass to settle Rohingyas there.

 

[UKBengali]

Throw out all the Burmese from Bangladesh and settle the rohingyas there. We have a moral and religious duties to help them.

No,no no:no

 

[Mattrixx]

Throw out all the Burmese from Bangladesh and settle the rohingyas there. We have a moral and religious duties to help them.

We have no intension to do that. We have respect for the citizens of Bangladesh.
But no extra respect for another country's people because he is Muslim.

 

[mb444]

The rohingya are not simply muslims from another country. They are our people who happens to be on the other side of a border drawn by British colonialists. Furthermore they are faced with genocide. Our duty to help is clear even if they were not Muslim. That they are makes it more even more important and that they are our own people makes it three times our responsibility.

We have four choices, number 1 do nothing and watch a part of our people eradicated from the face of the earth. Not will we be culpable in face of history in assisting genocide the raisin d'être of our nation that of a muslim nation will be nullified. No 2 assist them militarily to defend themselves, this represents long term commitment and security risk that we as a nation seeking to develop economically can not bear. Third intervene, again too expensive and will have long term negative issue. The forth is to accommodate them, that is what we should do. We do not have abundance of land so let us help the rakhines who are carrying out the atrocities over the border against the rohingya in the bid to have a homogenious land to have their ilk in one place. If these rakhine scums succeed in wiping out the rohingya their militancy will cross the border.

We are impacted in every scenario, accommodating the rohingya and kicking out the Burmese from Bangladesh is in our long term national interest. It is not nice but in the real world unpalatable choices needs to be made.

 

[Zabaniyah]

The rohingya are not simply muslims from another country. They are our people who happens to be on the other side of a border drawn by British colonialists. Furthermore they are faced with genocide. Our duty to help is clear even if they were not Muslim. That they are makes it more even more important and that they are our own people makes it three times our responsibility.

We have four choices, number 1 do nothing and watch a part of our people eradicated from the face of the earth. Not will we be culpable in face of history in assisting genocide the raisin d'être of our nation that of a muslim nation will be nullified. No 2 assist them militarily to defend themselves, this represents long term commitment and security risk that we as a nation seeking to develop economically can not bear. Third intervene, again too expensive and will have long term negative issue. The forth is to accommodate them, that is what we should do. We do not have abundance of land so let us help the rakhines who are carrying out the atrocities over the border against the rohingya in the bid to have a homogenious land to have their ilk in one place. If these rakhine scums succeed in wiping out the rohingya their militancy will cross the border.

We are impacted in every scenario, accommodating the rohingya and kicking out the Burmese from Bangladesh is in our long term national interest. It is not nice but in the real world unpalatable choices needs to be made.

Dang....ain't that bit too harsh? I agree about those Arakanese militants. In fact, some were found operating on BD territory.

 

[Himanshu Pandey]

a strategy paper on how to help or not help rohangias?

there is a chance that a lot of mangoliad bangladeshis will be putted into rohangyas category... or vice versa.. is there a mechanism proposed for internal checking in all those 25 proposals?

 

[mb444]

There is nothing that distinguishes a rohingya from the bangalies. The rakhines are the mongoloids easily identified.

 

[mb444]

Dang....ain't that bit too harsh? I agree about those Arakanese militants. In fact, some were found operating on BD territory.

Absolutely it is harsh. What I say does not sit well even to me. But those are the 4 choices that exists for BD and a population transfer is the less of all the evils.

This persecution of rohingya and criminalising those who are carrying out their moral duty to help those fleeing certain death will not work. The police the army and civil society will not harm our own irrelevant of BAL dictats. Long term we will have a rohingya population with rakhines in BD, an explosive mix. Better accept our own and assist the Burmese to their country.

I know my phraseology presents a sanitised utopia and reality of a polulation transfer is exactly as we are witnessing in Burma. Unfortunately in the absence of international pressure and Muslim worlds inertia, Bangladesh has no easy choice. Rohingya were made stateless in 1982 and the rakhines are an recognised people of Burma. I believe a legal basis exist to ask Burma to take back their own.

 

[Mattrixx]

Dang....ain't that bit too harsh? I agree about those Arakanese militants. In fact, some were found operating on BD territory.

UPDF is a great threat for BD. This is an extreme group. BD should try to neutralize them.
They created unrest in that region. I can find some similarity here. Can any one ??

UPDF

MYANMAR

 

[the just]

Rohinga or Rakhain does not matter what you ppl call them.They are not Bangladeshi. No matter how hard some of you try to run it home,this is the truth.For the sake of humanity does not apply to our country. Where we can not even humanly man our own ppl let alone ppl from other countries. Be that Muslims.You do not burn down your own house to save your neighbors.

 

[mb444]

Rohingya you can say are not Bangladeshi but that does not mean we do not have a problem. We can not avoid it, better to plan a course of action that gives us the Least long term issues. Expelling the Burmese rakhines from BD is not civilised but we live in an uncivilised neighbourhood. We can ignore it for a while but at the end we will have to face this issue head on. Better now than later as who knows what other issues we may face.

 

[TopCat]

Absolutely it is harsh. What I say does not sit well even to me. But those are the 4 choices that exists for BD and a population transfer is the less of all the evils.

This persecution of rohingya and criminalising those who are carrying out their moral duty to help those fleeing certain death will not work. The police the army and civil society will not harm our own irrelevant of BAL dictats. Long term we will have a rohingya population with rakhines in BD, an explosive mix. Better accept our own and assist the Burmese to their country.

I know my phraseology presents a sanitised utopia and reality of a polulation transfer is exactly as we are witnessing in Burma. Unfortunately in the absence of international pressure and Muslim worlds inertia, Bangladesh has no easy choice. Rohingya were made stateless in 1982 and the rakhines are an recognised people of Burma. I believe a legal basis exist to ask Burma to take back their own.

I understand your concern about Rohingyas but kicking genuine citizen of Bangladesh who themselves feel offended when called by the name burmese is outrageous.

 

[asad71]

The goal of this project is to aid and abet in the Rohingya genocide by the Burmese. This is to ensure the Rohingyas never get a foothold or base in BD to help in their struggle against the Burmese invaders. This strategy could only have been prepared by Delhi in collusion with Nepawdaw under their common strategy of ethnic cleansing of Muslims.