‘Won’t go to Bhasan Char without my dog’

For eleven-year-old Mohammad Sohel, a new shot at life without his dog Moti is impossible to imagine. So, when he and his family packed up their belongings -- collected over the years at the Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhia's Kutupalong -- to move to Bhasan Char, leaving Moti behind was not even a question.

The family of six -- mother, father and four children including Sohel -- fled atrocities in Myanmar's Rakhine region in 2017 and have been living as refugees in the Kutupalong camp.

Photo: Rajib Raihan

When they fled their home back then, Sohel and his family had brought along their pet dog but someone in the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar possibly poisoned the dog and killed him, our photojournalist Rajib Raihan -- based in Chattogram -- reported, quoting Sohel's father Abu Taleb.

Photo: Rajib Raihan

After their first dog's death, Sohel rescued and adopted Moti and started taking care of the dog who has been with them for around a year.

This morning, at Patenga's Boat Club, when the family was set to board a ship to Bhasan Char, officials on duty initially refused to let Moti go with them, Sohel's father said.

They had faced barriers all the way from Cox's Bazar to Chattogram and at each stage the family refused to move ahead without their dog. This time too, the siblings' pleading, crying and the family's adamant stance against traveling without their dog melted the hearts of all on duty.

They eventually let the family go on ahead to Bhasan Char with their dog happily in tow.