IT HAS already been seven years since the latest large-scale influx of the Rohingyas — who fled military violence in Myanmar to safety into Bangladesh in 2017 to add to a large number of their fellows having already lived here — but not a single Rohingya could be repatriated to their homeland of Rakhine State mostly because of Myanmar’s unwillingness and continued efforts to create a fearful situation to prevent a graceful, voluntary return of the people that United Nations then described as ‘the most persecuted community.’ More than 700,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in 2017, which took the Rohingya population here to close to a million. Over the years, the Rohingya population is now reported to have exceeded 1,200,000. At least two major attempts at the repatriation of the Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar failed as none of the Rohingyas were willing to return home without the guarantee of their citizenship and security. There has also been no progress in the repatriation of the Rohingyas as a process brokered by China for the return of some 1,000 Rohingyas on a pilot basis has been stalled for months. The Rohingyas living in camps and shelters here are passing their days in uncertainty about their future.
On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the latest large-scale Rohingya influx, the Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh feel that both their future and repatriation to Myanmar have become uncertain. The Rohingyas, which has become a growing community because of an increasing population, feel that they might not be able to return to their homeland that they yearn for. The responsibility of this uncertainty of theirs lies more with the world community that may not have acted enough to make the repatriation happen. The United Nations, which once described atrocities of Myanmar’s military against them as ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing’, now fears a further decline in Rakhine State, as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is reported to have said, that could likely be a repeat of the 2017 atrocities of Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingyas against the background of an freshly unfolding tragedy in Rakhine State. The UN human rights office says that as the border crossings to Bangladesh remain closed, the Rohingyas now find themselves trapped between the Myanmar military and its allies and the Arkan Army with no path to safety. The proposition, which is bad for the Rohingyas, may also have serious implication on Bangladesh, pointing to the collective failure of the world community, which once said ‘never again’ but now appears to be failing again as killing, destruction and displacement are witnessed once again in Rakhine State.
A meaningful resolution to the problem appears to be lying in a safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas in the interests of stakeholders. Bangladesh’s efforts alone appear highly unlikely to make the repatriation happen. While Bangladesh must ramp up its bilateral, regional and international efforts with Myanmar on the repatriation, on diplomatic and whatever fronts available, the world must also act in view of the precariousness of the situation.