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Bangladesh Accelerates Plan to Place Rohingyas on an Isolated Island

Bangladesh Accelerates Plan to Place Rohingyas on an Isolated Island
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The Bangladeshi government is rapidly pushing a controversial plan to relocate some 100,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar to an isolated and flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, where they may be stranded forever.


Bangladesh Accelerates Plan to Place Rohingyas on an Isolated Island

In this respect, Reuters reported on Wednesday that work on the project had accelerated in recent months as a group of foreign engineers were providing assistance to the Bangladeshi government for the preparation of Bhashan Char Island - also known as Thenger Char - to receive refugees before the onset of monsoon rains in April.

Reports said hundreds of laborers were carrying bricks and sand from ships on its muddy northwest shore, with satellite images also showing roads and what appeared to be a helipad.

The Bhasan Char, whose name means "floating island," emerged from the silt about 20 years ago and is located about 30 kilometers from mainland Bangladesh. The island is flat, shape-shifting, and inundated by regular floods during the months of June and September every year.

Aid workers have expressed grave concern that the silt island is vulnerable to frequent cyclones and cannot sustain the livelihood of thousands of people.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed in a statement earlier this week that the settlement of Rohingya Muslims on the island would be a "temporary arrangement" to reduce the dense population at the refugee camps in the Bangladeshi border city of Cox's Bazar, where nearly 700,000 members of the ethnic minority group currently live in deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

The repatriation was set to start last month, but was delayed by a lack of preparation, as well as protests staged by Rohingya refugees against the plan to send them back to Myanmar while conditions were not safe for their return.

Myanmar's government troops have been committing killings, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out arson attacks in Muslim villages in western Rakhine State since late 2016.

The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations but are denied citizenship and are branded illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which likewise denies them citizenship.

The UN described the 1.1-million-strong Muslim community as the most persecuted minority in the world.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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