Not possible to accept a single Rohingya

Accepting any more Rohingyas from Myanmar will only exacerbate the huge burden that Bangladesh is already facing by sheltering more than a million Rohingyas who fled here over the decades, with the biggest being in 2017, said security and foreign policy experts.

"We can see that there are conflicts within various Rohingya groups in the camps in Cox's Bazar," said Touhid Hossain, a former foreign secretary.

Rohingyas are being killed and drug trafficking is rampant.

"I would not say that only Rohingyas are responsible for all these, but it is a fact that there is a sort of anarchy in the camps," he added.

The issue came up as the UN Refugee Agency in a recent meeting said that several hundred Rohingyas were forced to leave their homes in Rakhine State and were taking shelter in the areas bordering Bangladesh.

At a regular meeting of the National Task Force on Rohingya last week, Sumbul Rizvi, chief of UNHCR in Bangladesh, proposed the country allow those Rohingyas amid fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, however, made Bangladesh's position clear that the country is unable to accept any more Rohingyas, officials concerned told The Daily Star.

Bangladesh is already struggling to ensure humanitarian support amid declining funding, while repeated efforts to repatriate them did not materialise.

Meanwhile, at least 330 members of Myanmar border police, army and family members had fled to Bangladesh and were later repatriated.

Since early February, locals have been panicking over mortar shells and bullets landing on the Bangladesh part of the border.

About $1 billion was sought from the international community every year since 2017 for Rohingyas but only 60-70 percent of the sum is met.

"Bangladesh already spends millions of dollars for maintaining law and managing the Rohingya camps. It has created both local and international challenges for us. We cannot afford one more single Rohingya," Hossain said.

Bangladesh, which already faces various economic and climate crises, cannot bear the brunt that it has been bearing since the 1980s.

The UN and the developed countries, which have vast land and low levels of population density, can take the Rohingya, he said.

They can also ask Myanmar authorities or the Arakan Army to provide a humanitarian corridor in Rakhine for the Rohingyas as long as the conflict goes on.

China, which maintains a relationship with both the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, can help create such a humanitarian corridor, he added.

Hossain also suggested that Bangladesh engage with multiple actors of Myanmar -- state and non-state -- for Rohingya repatriation and to ensure that no further Rohingya influx takes place.

"Why should only Bangladesh take responsibility? There are other countries that should support the Rohingyas in distress in the Rakhine State," said Sakhawat Hossain, senior fellow at the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance of North South University.

During such conflicts, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) can and should work to protect civilians, especially in shelter, food and healthcare, said Hossain, also a security expert.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Border Guard and Coast Guard have continued to patrol the Naf river at the border as infiltration attempts by the Rohingyas continue with the intensifying fighting across the border of Shahporir Dwip in Teknaf.

Between January 25 and February 17, more than 200 Rohingyas were prevented from crossing over to Bangladesh, said Tahsin Rahman, media officer of Coast Guard East Zone (Teknaf).

Three people were sent back from Shahporir Dwip yesterday, he added.

People heard loud sounds of explosions in the Whykong Kanjorpara-Kharankkhali area of Teknaf from 8 to 10 pm last night, said Noor Ahmed Anwari, chairman of Whykong union parishad.

People of St Martin Island also heard the loud sound of three explosions three times in the afternoon.

Five Rohingyas including a woman, who sustained a bullet wound, arrived at the Shahporir jetty on Saturday evening, but were sent back after treatment, said Abdus Salam, member of ward no 9 Sabrang union in Teknaf.