Rohingyas are a Muslim minority in Myanmar.

They are regarded by many Myanmar

Buddhists as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. They have lived in Myanmar for

generations and our government has called for Myanmar to take back the refugees.

They are denied citizens of Myanmar and have been described as the world’s most

persecuted minority. Myanmar has rejected persecuting the rohingyas.

Rohingya refugees have been coming in Bangladesh from Myanmar in 1978. In 1990s

more than 2,50,000 resided in refugees camps in Bangladesh. In 2000, 20,000 of them

were repatriated to Myanmar against there will. In 2015 to 2017, an estimated

3,00,000 to 5,00,000 Rohingya refugees were in Bangladesh. Most of the refugees

are located along the Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar highway near Naf river, which is the border

between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Most of the refugees are located in Cox’s Bazar,

which is coastal area dependent upon tourism.

Bangladesh has the familiarity to deal with this refugee issue both as a sending state

as well as a receiving state. In 1971, during the liberation war between Bangladesh

(East Pakistan) and Pakistan (West Pakistan), where probably 10 million people fled

from Bangladesh and to India as refugees. The Indian government reported that

around 8 to 9 million migrants took refugee in 829 refugee camps. It can also be

added that around 200 million people were displaced in the country. Refugees coming

from Myanmar are called Rohingyas who are an ethnic group of people and

considered as a minority community living in North Arakan in Myanmar. This

minority community is not regarded as the citizen of Myanmar in spite of their

residence in Myanmar for centuries. They have no freedom of charge, limited

marketing access and limited employment opportunity,

Recently, the plights of the Muslim Rohingya refugee have been caught the attention

of the world community. Hundreds of people for neighboring Myanmar State were

fleeing by boat through Naf river. It is the common coastal area between Bangladesh

and Myanmar, particularly St. Martin island, Teknaf, Shahpori island and Cox’s Bazar

areas because of persecution. A state of emergency was declared in Rakhine on June

2012 after deadly clashes between the Muslim communities and Buddhist. There was

a rape and a murder of a Buddhist woman in May 2012, followed by an attack on a

bus carrying Muslims, which flared after violence. Communal unrest continued for

weeks as Muslims and Buddhists were engaged in attack and reprisals, leaving many

dead and forcing thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes. According to

the Myanmar government, 211 people had been killed in Rakhine since June 2012.

Although Rohingya activists estimated the number to be closer to 1,000. There were

1,40,000 internally displaced persons (IDP’s) 94% of whom were Muslims.

Rohingya issue is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. The 1st wave of Rohingya

refugees fleeing from Arakan to the area of Cox’s Bazar occurred in 1784. During

this time, the Burmese king Bodawpara invaded and annexed Arakan to the then

kingdom of Ava in central Burma. Apart from the inflow of refugees in 1942, two

major influxes of Rohingya people took place in Bangladesh in 1978 and during the

warring period from 1991 to 1992 Myanmar governed backed systematic genocidal

and ethnic cleansing programme. Now more than 0.5 million documented and

undocumented Rohingya people are living in Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and its adjacent

areas under the generosity of Bangladesh for over 30 years.

Most probably, during 1991 to 1992, more than 2,70,000 Rohingya refugees crossed

the border. However, the most detestable part of it is their characteristics evil habit

of bringing along with them their experiences of horrible violence in the repulsive

form of forced labour, rape, executions and tortures. As a persecuted group of

refugees from Myanmar who shares a familiar Muslim identity. Bangladesh initially

welcomed them with open arms as follow Muslims. About 2,58,000 Rohingyas were

registered by the government of Bangladesh.