DHAKA — A crackdown by Bangladeshi authorities has triggered a "humanitarian catastrophe" for the country's unregistered population of Rohingya refugees, according to a report released Tuesday.
The authorities launched an "unprecedented" campaign against the ethnic Muslims from Myanmar on January 2, pushing thousands into an unofficial refugee camp, a report by the Arakan Project lobby group said.
In the makeshift camp in Kutuplaong on the Myanmar border, "food insecurity and hunger is spreading rapidly and a serious humanitarian crisis is looming," the report by the Bangkok-based group said.
"A major humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding for the unprotected Rohingya in Bangladesh," the report added.
"This will deteriorate if the Bangladesh authorities do not immediately put an end to this massive crackdown and continue to deny access to food and livelihood to the unregistered Rohingya refugees."
Police round-ups, leading to arrest or illegal forced deportation, are common and the local media has launched a "xenophobic campaign" against the Rohingya, stirring up local resentment, the report added.
It also claimed instances of theft, rape and assaults against unregistered Rohingya soared last month.
Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar's northern Rakhaine state stream across the border every year. They are now estimated to number nearly 400,000.
Around 8,000 are believed to have fled in 2009.
There are an estimated 700,000 Rohingya in Myanmar, where they are not recognised as citizens and have no right to own land and are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission.
Police on the border with Myanmar told AFP Tuesday that they had arrested nearly 149 Rohingas last month as they tried to enter Bangladesh and had pushed back 112. The report claims the repatriation policy is illegal.
"This month, we have arrested over 50 and pushed all of them back into Myanmar. It is an ongoing operation," said Rafiqul Islam, chief of the local police in Kutuplaong on the Myanmar border.
Islam said the crackdown, prompted by a rise in the number of Rohingya asylum seekers who were clearing forest and building shanty towns around the Kutuplaong camp, was an attempt to stop further migration.
"If we don't stop them, the floodgates will open," he said.
Source :http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hUYmqR-zSbvkSl_ke5pSXEpEG2-w
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