Imprudent decision, improper timing

The media is abuzz with reports on the Rohingya issue. The statement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights validating claims that Myanmar's security forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burned their villages since October last year, the visit of a three member Rakhine Commission to Bangladesh to hear testimonies of Rohingyas who fled the recent spate of violence by state agencies, and the released plan of the Bangladesh government to relocate Rohingya refugees to a desolate island, have drawn attention of the national and international media. 

Over the last few months, faced with intransigence of the Myanmar authorities in acknowledging the gross human rights violations of its security forces in the Arakan region, let alone addressing the root causes, the Bangladesh government has shored up efforts for mounting international pressure on its eastern neighbour. 

In the second week of January, this year a clear message was conveyed to the visiting special representative of State Counsellor Suu Kyi that it was Myanmar's responsibility to create an enabling environment for the return of all Rohingyas currently living in Bangladesh. Likewise, Bangladesh was also unequivocal in reiterating the stance at the session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference convened by Malaysia in mid January 2017. Bangladesh called for ensuring basic rights of the Rakhine Muslims and sustainable return of refugees and displaced Rohingyas to their homeland. The meeting ended after adopting a resolution that emphasised "immediate halt of atrocities, unhindered humanitarian access, end of discrimination, ensuring basic rights including restoration of citizenship through reviewing the existing law and sustainable return of refugees and displaced Rohingyas to the Rakhine State".

In August 2016, faced with increasing international criticism on its treatment of the Rohingyas, the Myanmar government was forced to institute the Kofi Annan Commission to provide recommendations on the complex challenges facing Rakhine. In November, Ms. Suu Kyi bowed to weeks of international pressure to appoint another commission to investigate the original attacks and the allegations of human rights abuses by the military conducted since October 2017. 

The second half of January was also marked by the visit of a three member team of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Bangladesh that conducted interviews of people who fled Myanmar after attacks on a border post in early October, the ensuing counter military operations and a lockdown in north Maungdaw. Its subsequent report issued just days verified the reports of mass gang-rape, killings, including babies and young children, brutal beatings, disappearances and other serious human rights violations by the country's security forces. The findings of the Commission members led the Head of the UN Rights body to acknowledge that the "devastating cruelty" was "unbearable" and acknowledged that "the gravity and scale of these allegations begs the robust reaction of the international community".

It was at such a critical juncture when Myanmar's Rohingya policy had come under sharp multi-pronged international scrutiny (never witnessed before) that the Bangladesh government announced the resurrection of its plan to relocate all Rohingyas staying in the country to the remote Thengar Char island, albeit in phases.

On January 26, 2017, the Cabinet Division issued a notification on 'Illegally intruding Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh'. It referred to the recent influx of the Rohingyas through the Teknaf-Ukhia border and expressed concern on their "intermingling with the mainstream community" and "dispersal to various parts of the country". The authorities noted that all these portend "deterioration of the law order situation, spread of infectious diseases increasing the health risks of the local people and various kinds of social and economic problems". 

It is in this context that the authorities have formed 'Identification Committees for Illegally Intruding Myanmar Nationals (IMN)' at different tiers of administration. Among other responsibilities the district level committee is tasked to (a) take appropriate actions to coordinate activities with people's representatives to halt illegal infiltration of Myanmar nationals, (b) identify IMNs by using people and intelligence agencies, (c) resist any move to refrain them from intermingling with the mainstream population, (d) help concerned authorities prepare a list of IMNs and if those identified wish to cross the demarcated area then arrest them under the law or push them back to the camp area, and (e) assist in relocation of all registered refugees and unregistered IMNs to Thengar Char of Hatiya Upazilla of Noakhali district. Along with these, the district committee has also been authorised to set up temporary shelters like makeshift camps near the permanent camps to provide humanitarian assistance to this group of people.

The government's position of blaming Rohingyas for all ills of the neighbourhood is not justified. There is no compelling evidence about their engagement in criminal activities or spread of infectious diseases. Like any other group, some delinquent elements may exist within the community, but that should not be the ground for labelling the entire community. Contra evidence indicates that it is the Bangladeshi criminal gangs who use the vulnerable Rohingya. 

Undocumented Rohingya live without any protection and have to fend for themselves. The absence of any protection mechanism has exacerbated their plight as they are subjected to arrest and detention for illegal entry, discrimination and exploitation. If minimum structures were in place to meet the basic necessities of the undocumented Rohingyas (as the reason for the flight was essentially the same as that of registered Rohingyas) then along with addressing their vulnerability, the framed national security concerns (law and order, spread of disease, and depletion of forest resources) could also be mitigated. 

The relocation plan raises a number of apprehensions. Principal among those is the intent behind such relocation. Bangladesh rightly insists that the solution of the Rohingya problem rests with their return to Myanmar. If that is the case, why then invest huge amounts of resources to develop a recently accreted land with facilities that will surely give signal to the Myanmar authorities that Bangladesh is considering providing them some form of semi-permanent status? 

The second issue is the selection of the site. Media reports inform that the Char that emerged about a decade ago, is unstable and uninhabitable. It is still prone to flooding during high tide and cyclones during monsoon season and is quite inaccessible (it takes two hours by speedboat from mainland). The remote location makes it a target for pirates. The plan that the Char could be made inhabitable within years through infrastructure development, setting up of civic facilities and police posts also appear to be farfetched. The remoteness of the site may very well be the ideal breeding ground for radicalisation of its degraded ghettoised dwellers, the very reason for their relocation in the first place. The third issue is the question of livelihood. Even if the authorities provide for poultry, animal husbandry and the like, ensuring livelihood for 400,000 people on this remote land will be an almost impossible task. 

The government needs to take a fresh look at the Rohingya relocation plan. Its forthright stand in garnering international support to exert pressure on Myanmar has begun to yield meaningful dividends. Instead of experimenting with a temporary location site that has already invited unnecessary international attention the government should remain resolute in its demand that durable solution of the Rohingya problem lies in their return to Myanmar in dignity. 

The writer teaches International Relations at the University of Dhaka.