Bangladesh: Once submerged island ready to house 1,00,000 Rohingyas

In a crystal clear picture, Bangladesh was in no hurry to relocate the 1,00,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, the floating island in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh wishes to shelter just a 'fraction' of nearly 1 million Rohingya Muslims in Bhasan Char which has now, its flood protection embankments, hospitals, mosques along with residential space. However, dates for the relocation of the refugees who fled from violent persecution are yet to be announced.

The refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner of Bangladesh, Mahbub Alam Talukder said, “Bhasan Char is ready for habitation. Everything has been put in place.”

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This move came after the world body, the United Nations called for a thorough assessment to ensure the viability of the move, saying it was discussing "critical protection and operational issues" ahead of any relocation.

As of now, Bangladesh has prohibited foreign media entities from visiting the island.

A local freelance journalist Saleh Noman who recently visited Bhasan Char described that a community is shaping -up there.

“I saw a market with about 10 grocery shops and roadside tea stalls. Some were selling fish and vegetables,” he said. “All is set there with a solar power system and water supply lines.”

The island is 21 miles ahead of the mainland of Bangladesh and had never been inhabited. Bangladesh is itself a low-lying delta nation prone to the tidal phenomenon.

The naval forces of Bangladesh have been trying their best to implement a multimillion-dollar plan to bolster the two-decades-old swampy island, which gets regularly submerged during the annual monsoon season.

International-aid authorities including the United Nations have expressed their vehement opposition since the plan to relocate was introduced back in 2015.

According to the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh, Mostofa Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, the world body isn't ready to endorse the relocation and is waiting for a chance to visit the island after a November trip was canceled.

"The UN has emphasized the importance of undertaking independent and thorough technical and protection assessments that consider safety, sustainability, and protection issues prior to any relocation taking into place. The assessment process should include onsite visits to Bhasan Char,” Hossain said.

Most of the refugee camps that have been set up now in the beach town of Cox Bazar are overcrowded and unhygienic with diseases and organized crimes at rampant levels. Education is said to be very limited and there is no employment opportunity is available for the refugees.

Still, many Rohingyans are unwilling to return to their native lands in Myanmar due to safety concerns. Government officials still do not have an estimate of how many refugees would be willing to be relocated to the island.

On the condition of anonymity, two Bangladeshi contractors spoke to media representatives and gave an update on the development of the island.

“We have built quality infrastructure. Bangladeshi villages have never seen such good work. This is like a modern township project,” one contractor said.

“We have built multi-family concrete homes, hospitals, mosques, schools, playgrounds, and roads. There are solar-power facilities, a water supply system. We constructed raised concrete buildings that could be used as cyclone shelters. Many trees have been planted,” he said.

Bangladesh is in constant talks with UN humanitarian bodies, and working on their observations, said Enamur Rahman, the junior minister for disaster management and relief. "So we are going a little slow. There's no exact date to relocate," he added.

Amid of UN concerns over the relocation issues, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly told the UN and other international partners that her administration will consult them before making a final decision on the relocation and that no refugees will be forced to move.

Within an 'unsuccessful' bilateral framework, Bangladesh tried its best to send the Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar but no one was actually willing to go as Rohingya are not considered as citizens of Myanmar

The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, rendering them stateless, and face other forms of state-sanctioned discrimination.

A UN-sponsored investigation in 2018 recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya.

Myanmar is defending itself in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, after the West African nation of Gambia brought a case backed by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, Canada and the Netherlands.

The Gambia in its submission said there was a “serious and imminent risk of genocide recurring” and called for emergency measures to prevent Myanmar from committing any further atrocities or erasing any evidence. The court is expected to deliver a decision on January23 on what measures should be imposed.

Kamal Hossain, Bangladesh's top government official in Cox’s Bazar, said Thursday that discussions attempting to convince refugee families to move to the island are continuing. “We are ready. This is a continuous process,” he said.

"We are not in a hurry and it will start only when all these UN bodies and Rohingya people feel the area is ready."

Rahman said the government was working to build more cyclone shelters on the island, which is hours from the mainland by boat. Many Rohingya have opposed the transfer plan.

A World Food Programme document shows the UN's food agency supplied Bangladesh with detailed plans, including a timeline and a budget, on providing for thousands of Rohingya taken to the island within weeks.

Densely-populated Bangladesh says it has been grappling with the large refugee numbers.

The number of refugees in Cox's Bazar has swelled since August 2017, when a Myanmar military-led crackdown that UN investigators have said was conducted with "genocidal intent" prompted some 730,000 Rohingya to flee.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has denied almost all accusations of atrocities made by refugees, saying its security forces engaged in a legitimate counterterrorism operation.