Human suffering is limitless.
On 14 May, Kutupalong, near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh
had its first case of Coronavirus. The sprawling stretch of 34 refugee camps,
the world’s biggest, shelters nearly a million Rohingya refugees. A few of them
have now tested positive, a dreaded scenario for Bangladesh.
Rohingyas originated in Myanmar (formerly Burma) nearly
five thousand years ago, when Islam didn’t exist. Converted to Islam by Arab
merchants, they were concentrated in Arakan. In the 1970s, the Burmese army and
dictatorship began its relentless campaign against Rohingyas. Arakan was
renamed Rakhine, after the Buddhist Burmese people. Rohingyas were (falsely)
called Bengali immigrants, made stateless, their legal rights withdrawn. With a
combination of apartheid and genocide, the brutal Burmese Junta tried to get
rid of them. Aung San Suu Kyi, an otherwise respectable woman, lost many
admirers due to her silence around the atrocities.
In 2017, 800,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to find
shelter in the now infamous refugee camps. Bangladesh is a reluctant host. The
refugee camps are covered with barbed wires not for the protection of refugees,
but of Bangladeshis. The government has cut off all phones and internet from
the camps. Rains and floods cause chaos in the monsoons. The camps are located
on the roads that were previously an elephant migration route. Occasionally,
wild elephants enter the camps and trample a few refugees.
For the past four years, Bangladesh has been planning to relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a nearby island. In 2006, the 15
sq mile island was formed naturally by the millions of tons of silt that flow
from the peaks of the Himalayas. Between June and September, the island disappears
under water. The Bangladeshi government has not allowed foreign observers or
Rohingya representatives to visit the island. Recently over 300 refugees tried
to flee to Malaysia by boats (another name for the Rohingya refugees: the Boat
People). The Bangladeshi navy caught and placed them on this island. The fate
of these first residents will be known in June when the floods begin.
Rohingya refugees, the world’s most persecuted people,
have so far survived Burmese brutalities, malnutrition in camps, rains,
elephants and the dreaded transfer to Bhasan Char Island. Coronavirus is their
latest, but not the last challenge.
Tomorrow, on 20 May, a category four super cyclonic storm Amphan (meaning sky) is going to
hit Bangladesh and the North East of India. A five to ten feet high storm
followed by floods is expected to cause havoc in low lying areas.
In the Rohingya refugee camps, the danger signal has
been elevated to 6.
Ravi
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