No repatriation by Burma, Bangladesh says
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh on Monday rejected a claim by Burma that the Buddhist-majority nation had repatriated the first five people among some 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to the neighboring country to escape military-led violence.
A Burmese government statement said Saturday that five members of a family had returned to western Rakhine state from the border area. It said the family was staying temporarily with relatives in Maungdaw town, the administrative center close to the border.
The statement said authorities determined whether they had lived in Burma and provided them with a national verification card. The card is a form of ID, but does not mean citizenship — something Rohingya have been denied in Burma, where they’ve faced persecution for decades.
The statement did not say whether any more repatriations were being planned. Bangladesh has given Burma a list of more than 8,000 refugees to begin the repatriations, but there have been delays due to a complicated verification process.
On Monday, Bangladesh’s home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, said Burma’s claim that the family had been “repatriated” was false, noting that the family had never reached Bangladeshi territory.
Khan said Burma’s move was “nothing but a farce.”
“I hope Myanmar will take all the Rohingya families back within the shortest possible time,” he said, using the name for Burma that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
Bangladesh’s refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner, Abul Kalam, said the Rohingya family involved had never crossed the border.
“By no definition can this be called repatriation,” he said by phone from Cox’s Bazar. “No repatriation has taken place. Bangladesh is no way part of it.”
Cox’s Bazar is a district in Bangladesh where camps have been set up to shelter the Rohingya.
Asif Munier, an independent refugee expert who had handled the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh for years as part of the United Nations, said Burma’s claim was a public relations stunt.
“They are doing it again and again,” he said, also referring to Burma as Myanmar. “Bangladesh’s government and the international community must ask Myanmar for an explanation for this move. While there is a bilateral process going on and international agencies are involved, such a move by Myanmar is again very unfortunate and unexpected.”
Burma’s security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of the homes of Rohingya villagers after insurgents attacked about 30 police outposts on Aug. 25. The United Nations and the United States have described the army crackdown as “ethnic cleansing.”
Bangladesh and Burma agreed in December to begin repatriating the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims in January, but there were concerns among aid workers and Rohingya that they would be forced to return and face unsafe conditions in Burma.
Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in Burma, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.