Families torn apart in Myanmar violence

A Rohingya woman, who was in her advanced stage of pregnancy and had her movements restricted, had to flee her home in Rakhine State because of the violence to Bangladesh.
The woman, Jarina Begum, 20, aided by her fellows, finally gave birth to a baby boy at Balukhali in Cox’s Bazar in the first week of September. And she had to walk through hilly areas
and cross the River Naf to safety in Bangladesh.
Jarina, exhausted by all this, could not be happy about her child as she lost her husband to violence by Myanmar’s security forces in Rasidong in Rakhine State.
‘I heard my husband was shot dead. I ran with my sister Jebeya Begum. We walked and walked to reach Bangladesh. On the way to the Balukhali camp I lost my sister,’ she said, adding that she had hope that she might find out her sister and relatives.
Burn injured Rohingya woman Begum Shahajan, 50, of Rasidong took shelter at Balukhali camp. She was visiting her sister’s house when the violence erupted on August 25.
She rushed to house only to see that her husband Shaiful Alam was burnt to death. Their son Sadrul Alam dragged her out of the house and started fleeing towards border, with her another son, grandson Osman, daughter Rashma and sister.
‘But I was unlucky, I lost my daughter and sister, as we had to take separate boats to cross the river,’ Begum Shahajan said, adding that now they were surviving at the mercy of local people who gave some dry foods in the past two days.
Rabea, 20, arrived with her three-month old child and her father, said that her husband was burnt alive and she lost her sister while fleeing her village Badurmohan in Rakhine three days ago. She could not breast feed her child as she was starving and fell sick after walking for three days and stayed several hours on a boat to reach Shah Purir Dwip.
Mohammad Alam, 35, was found at Shah Parir Dwip carrying his baby boy Abbas towards the Balukhali camp. He said that he was working while army set fire to his house. He could only manage to flee with his son from Lambaguna village and was not sure about the fate of the rests of the family.
Showing burn injuries in parts of his son’s body, he said that cruel Myanmar military did not even spare children.
Continued on page 2 Col. 5 The ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State left responsibilities for a boy of several months on his sister Rebeka, a 7-8-year old girl unable to take care of herself.
Many of Rohingya children like Rebeka now have to take care of their own and younger siblings who also lost their parents and relatives in the violence.
Rebeka was seen to land from a boat at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar along with her brother with the help of other fellows. She could not finish a sentence properly but it was understood with help of others that they lost their parents back in Rasidong.
Rohingya leader at Balukhali Hafij Ahmed and international humanitarian aid workers said that they came to know about hundreds of incidents from fleeing ethnic minorities that they either lost their family members forever or did not know their whereabouts.
UNICEF Bangladesh child support unit director Jean Lieby said that they had identified 1,128 children separated from families. ‘We expect this number to increase a lot in the coming days,’ he said.
His information was a pointer of families that were torn apart in the violence.
Cox’s Bazar civil surgeon Abdus Salam said that they were handling hundreds of Rohingya patients whose accounts gave testimony how children were separated from parents, brothers from sisters, women from husbands and vice versa.
The ongoing ethnic cleansing ongoing began on August 25, when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army reportedly attacked dozens of police posts and checkpoints and one military base in Rakhine.
An UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar estimated that more than 1,000 people might already have been killed in Myanmar violence, mostly minority Rohingya Muslims.
The Rohingyas are a stateless ethnic minority in Myanmar not allowed to exercise their basic rights including the freedom to move, right to education, work and other social, civil and political rights.
UNHCR estimated on Thursday that about 4,00,000 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh to save life since August 25 and Bangladeshi officials said another 1,00,000 were waiting at the border to enter Bangladesh.
‘We have no indication that this influx will stop soon. This is a growing humanitarian crisis and children are at the heart of this crisis,’ said Jean Lieby

UN calls to end army actions in Rakhine

The United Nations Security Council is likely to hold open sessions on ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State, as a motion was moved in the European Parliament for a resolution urging the UNSC and General Assembly to adopt effective diplomatic and political measures to ensure compliance by the Myanmar government with its obligations to ensure protection of minority Rohingyas.
The United Nations Security Council, on early Thursday (Bangladesh time), called for immediate steps to end the violence and ensure the protection of civilians in the violence-torn state of Myanmar.
Asked if the UNSC would hold an open session on Rohingya matters, current UNSC president Tekeda Alemu said at a press conference in New York, ‘I wouldn’t exclude it’ as it (Security Council) was ‘seized’ with the matter.
The UNSC made the call, in a closed-door meeting proposed by Britain and Sweden in New York, expressing deep concern about the situation in Rakhine and condemning the violence, which led to the exodus of more than 3,70,000 people in Bangladesh, according to diplomatic sources in New York.
The UNSC members expressed concern about the reports of excessive violence during the security operations and called for immediate steps to end the violence in Rakhine, de-escalate the situation, re-establish law and order, ensure the protection of civilians and resolve the refugee problem.
The UNSC welcomed the government of Bangladesh’s efforts to provide assistance to refugees and also welcomed efforts of the UN and other international organisations to support Bangladesh.
The UNSC members called on the Myanmar government to fulfill its commitments to provide and allow humanitarian assistance to all displaced individuals without discrimination.
They encouraged further dialogue and cooperation among the states concerned.
They agreed on the importance of a long term solution to the situation in Rakhine and called for the implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine, chaired by Kofi Annan.
Asked if the UNSC statement was ‘weak’ or ‘submissive’, Tekeda Alemu said, ‘This is what we could agree so far.’
China, one of five powerful permanent members of the UNSC, however, blocked a proposal from Egypt to add words in the draft text on ensuring the right of return to the Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh, Agence France-Presse reported with reference of diplomats in the UN system.
British ambassador Matthew Rycroft stressed that it was the first time in nine years that the Security Council was able to agree on a common stance on Myanmar.
Nikki Haley, US permanent representative to the UN, ‏ said, in a tweet, that the UN Security Council was united in calling for an end to violence against innocent civilians in Rakhine State.
Bangladesh foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali welcomed the UNSC statement on Rohingya situation. ‘It is timely and very strong statement’ by the Security Council, he said at a press briefing in Dhaka on Thursday.
Nearly 4,00,000 minority Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, fled violence and persecution during ‘security operations’ by Myanmar military in Rakhine to Bangladesh since August 25, raising a total number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to over 8,00,000.
UN secretary general António Guterres‏ said at a press conference at UN headquarters early Thursday that violence in Myanmar ‘has created a humanitarian catastrophe’ and escalated beyond Myanmar’s border, destabilising the region.’
He acknowledged that Rohingya Muslims were being ethnically cleansed in Myanmar as he called for a halt to a military campaign in Rakhine state.
‘I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognise the right of return of all those who had to leave the country,’ the UN chief.
Asked if he agreed that the Rohingya population was being ethnically cleansed, he replied, ‘When one-third of the Rohingya population has got to flee the country, can you find a better word to describe it?’
Guterres said that the Myanmar government should either grant the Rohingya nationality or legal status that would allow them to live a normal life.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, in a phone call on Wednesday, urged Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to play the role of a ‘moral and political leader’ for the nation, his office said in a statement.
A group of members of the European Parliament on Thursday urged, in the motion, the UN Security Council and General Assembly to adopt effective diplomatic and political measures to ensure compliance by the Myanmar government with its obligations for ensuring protection of minority Rohingyas.
They urged the (Myanmar) military and security forces to immediately cease the killings, harassment and rape of the Rohingya people, and the burning of their homes. It also demanded accountability for the serious violations of international law by all parties.
They urged China and other international and regional actors to use all channels to demand an end to the atrocities and bring about a peaceful resolution.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina would start for New York on Saturday to lead the Bangladesh delegation in the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly where she would urge the international quarters to mount pressure on Myanmar to resolve Rohingya crisis, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali said at a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday.
Hasina would join meetings on Rohingya matters, UN peacekeeping mechanism and UN reforms, among others. There would also be meetings with top foreign dignitaries, including Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, on the sideline of the UNGA.
British foreign secretary Boris Johnson is likely to host a meeting, on Rohingya situation, where he invited foreign minister Ali to participate.
Ali is also expected to call on Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. A minister of Myanmar state counsellor Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s office is likely to call on Ali on the sideline of the UNGA.

Aid shortage hampers relief works

The government continued struggling to distribute reliefs among about four lakh Rohingays, already entered Bangladesh fleeing ethnic cleansing in Mynamar, because of inadequate humanitarian aid response from international community while UN agencies on Thursday expressed fear that about 1 million ethnic minorities of Myanmar might flee to Bangladesh.
Rohingays who entered Bangladesh or were waiting in borders were facing untold sufferings with inadequate food, water and sanitation facilities at makeshift settlements or under open sky.
International aid groups rang the alarm bell to escalate efforts for relief works to avoid severe humanitarian crisis.
Children, women and aged Rohingyas were the worst suffers as they failed to make place through crowds elbowing others to collect reliefs distributed by local people. Many of them were seen stretching hands for assistance whenever a vehicle passed by.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament on Thursday that government engaged army to monitor international relief activities for the Rohingyas who entered Bangladesh.
She urged the administration and political parties to give special attention to ease the sufferings of Rohingyas.
‘Many countries have come forward to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas. We should be careful so that these assistances can reach to them,’ Hasina said.
International humanitarian agencies on Thursday expressed fear that over 10 lakh Rohingyas might flee to Bangladesh when government and aid agencies were struggling to accommodate 4 lakh ethnic minorities already entered Bangladesh fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration at a joint press conference in Dhaka on Thursday said that about 4 lakh Rohingyas already entered Bangladesh and they estimated that about 10 lakh persecuted ethnic minorities might enter Bangladesh.
IOM director operations and emergency Mohammed Abdiker Mohamud said that the international community had yet to come up with necessary humanitarian supports to handle the Rohingya crisis.
He said that Bangladesh alone could not tackle the crisis. ‘We urge the international communities to come up with more help,’ Mohammed Abdiker Mohamud said.
UNHCR assistant high commissioner (operations) George Okoth-Obbo said that all had to be careful about health situation so that another emergency did not occur.
UNICEF Bangladesh in a statement on Thursday said that about 60 per cent of Rohingyas entered Bangladesh were children.
‘There are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean water,’ said UNICEF representative in Bangladesh Edouard Beigbeder.
‘Conditions on the ground place children at high risk of water-borne diseases. We have a monumental task ahead of us to protect these extremely vulnerable children,’ he said.
The ongoing ethnic cleansing began in Rakhine State on August 25, when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army reportedly attacked dozens of police posts and checkpoints and one military base in Rakhine.
An UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar estimated that more than 1,000 people, mostly minority Rohingya Muslims, might have already been killed in Myanmar violence.
The Rohingyas are a stateless ethnic minority in Myanmar not allowed to exercise their basic rights including the freedom to move, right to education, work and other social, civil and political rights.
Rohingyas were now living here and there making makeshift shelters beside roads and highways, cutting hills and forests in beach town Cox’s Bazar amid run out of water supplies and insufficient relief and medical services.
New Age correspondent in Cox’s Bazar added that the many children and women were found at Palungkhali who failed to receive reliefs. Whenever a van or truck full of relief martial reached the area, Rohingyas thronged there in their hundreds making difficult for the volunteers to control the situation, said local people.
‘Men and strong boys can reach the spot elbowing others and they get the relief,’ said elderly Rohingya woman Khodeza.
Cox’s Bazar additional district magistrate Khaled Mahmud, also the focal person on Rohingya issue, said that it was true that a disorder created at the place where relief was reaching. ‘We are trying to distribute all reliefs from one place at Balukhali camp to avoid the disorder,’ he said.
Cox’s Bazar district administration said that so far they received relief materials from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
‘We are struggling to deal with the situation as so many Rohingyas have entered the country,’ he said.
Local people were seen throwing packets of biscuits, chips, in some cases puffed rice, to the Rohingays living by the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf road and the Marine Drive.
At least five bodies of Rohingyas were recovered from the River Naf at Teknaf on Tursday, said Teknaf police station officer-in-charge Md Main Uddin. With these five, 110 bodies, mostly women and children, had been recovered from the river since August 25.
The Myanmar government rejected a proposal made by Bangladesh to create a ‘safe zone’ in Myanmar for Rohingyas, said a spokesperson from the Office of State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, reported a Myanmar newspaper.
‘The government rejects the plan to create a safety zone. The international actors control if one is ever established,’ U Zaw Htay, director general at the ministry of the State Counsellor Office, told The Myanmar Times on Wednesday.
Earlier, Bangladesh sent the proposal for a safe zone in Rakhine to the Myanmar government through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
U Zaw Htay said that of the 417 Muslim villages in Rakhine State, residents from 34 villages had either fled or remained, while residents from 176 villages abandoned their homes. However, 260 villages were still inhabited by Rohingyas.
Agence France-Presse reported that Rohingya insurgents whose raids in western Myanmar provoked an army crackdown that spurred a humanitarian crisis, denied any links to global terror groups on Thursday, days after Al-Qaeda urged Muslims to rally to their cause.
‘ARSA feels that it is necessary to make it clear that it has no links with Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Lashkar-e-Taiba or any transnational terrorist group,’ the group said in a statement posted on its Twitter account.
Reuters reported that Smoke was rising from at least five places on the Myanmar side of the border on Thursday. It was not clear what was burning or who set the fires.

Shakib reaches 50

28.5 overs, BD 99/3 -Shakib Al Hasan scores his 22nd Test fifty by driving Agar though backward point for two runs. He reaches 50 in just 66 balls with seven boundaries.

End of first session of play

The session has been an interesting one. Pat Cummins dominated proceedings early on as he picked up the wickets of Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes and Sabbir Rahman early on. Bangladesh fought back with Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan consolidating the innings after the early loss of wickets.

Rohingya influx into Bangladesh continues

Following yesterday’s mass exodus that saw nearly 2,000 Rohingya refugees entering Bangladeshterritory from Myanmar, hundreds of Rohingyas were today seen at the no man's land at Ghumdhum in Naikhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban.

The number of Rohingyas heading towards Bangladesh saw a fresh increase as the bloodshed in the Rakhine State of Myanmar continues.

At least 89 people were killed as Rohingya militants besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State of Myanmar on Friday.

Read More: Crisis deepens

“We heard sounds of heavy gunfire near Toombro border under Naikhyangchhari upazila,” our Cox’s Bazar staff correspondent reports today quoting Zahangir Aziz, chairman of Ghumdhum union.

Quoting witnesses, the chairman told the correspondent that hundreds of Rohingya refugees were waiting near Toombro border trying to enter Bangladesh territory.

Read Also: 'Stop fresh exodus of Rohingyas'

In the evening, over “two thousand Rohingyas” entered Bangladesh through different points of Naikhyangchhari, according to a local public representative.

“Around 2,000 to 2,500 Rohingyas got into Bangladesh from Myanmar this evening [yesterday],” Md Zahangir Alam, chairman of Ghumdum Union Parishad, said yesterday.

BGB members have cordoned them off and are keeping close watch so that they cannot proceed further into the country. Locals extended a helping hand to the refugees with food, water and other life-saving materials, he said.

Hasbi rabbi jallellah..allahu allah