Rohingya relocation at Thengar Char: Minister

Bangladesh will rehabilitate Rohingya refugees at Thengar Char in Hatia until they are sent back to Myanmar, Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said today.

Speaking at today’s session in the parliament, he made the revelation while discussing about the government’s allotment of 2,000 acre land in Ukhia for sheltering Rohingyas.

“There are 24,000 Rohingyas in Ukhia at present. Apart from this Rohingya, there are many other Rohingya people who are staying scattered in different areas,” he said.

“We will keep all the Rohingya people altogether on the 2,000 acres of land for the time being to provide them shelter, food and health service,” Maya said in reply to a supplementary question.

“There are many Rohingyas who had to bear immense sufferings,” Maya said, adding: “Distress of Rohingya people is beyond description. Nobody will understand their sufferings without seeing it with own eyes,” Maya said.

At one stage of his speech, Maya said the government will rehabilitate all the Rohingya people at Thengar Char, near Swandip area, until they are taken back by the Myanmar government.

The Bangladesh government on February 5 announced a plan to relocate thousands of Rohingya as stranded on its territory to Thengar Char in Hatiya in the Bay of Bengal.

While revealing its plans, the government sought financial support from the UN and the international community for the relocation project.

But many, including foreign diplomats, have said that the Rohingyas “should not be moved against their will and that the place chosen for relocation was uninhabitable and prone to floods”.