Thai Navy took the engine of the boat before it reached high seas and left it to flow away without supply of food and water. After a while, they were rescued by the Indian Navy as the boat floated aimlessly towards Andaman-Nicobar Islands. By the time of rescue, all the Rohingyas on the boat were food deprived, immensely dehydrated and on the verge of death. Ali Ashraf was lucky to survive and recovered after spending a month in an Indian hospital. The misery did not end there. In 2008, he was sent out of India to Bangladesh. The Indians submitted a list of Rohingya refuges that were rescued in Andaman Islands. But the Bangladeshi government agreed to accept only those with a UNHCR certificate or a Bangladeshi citizenship. Ashraf was able to provide adequate proof of being a part of a UNCHR camp in Cox’s Bazar. He was reunited with his family. But after three years, his entire family has been untraceable. Now there is no trace of the man or his family members.
How can a certain group of people be denied from four countries? Along with Bangladesh Myanmar, India and Thailand also refused to accept them. It happened in other places of the world before and is now happening here. The Awami League led government looks at the Rohingyas as supporters of religious fanatics and Jamait-e-Islam, therefore has made to attempt to help them or shelter them. Government of Myanmar says that Rohingyas are not their own. The President stated that Rohingyas are originally Bangladeshi immigrants who migrated from Chittagong and refused to consider as indigenous people.
Recently, the Indian government has alerted the northeastern states to stop Rohingya migration at any cost. Almost 1,400 Rohingyas were arrested for trying to enter India. They have always been comfortable in Pakistan but going through India has become practically impossible in recent times. So they are moving towards Malaysia through Thailand and settling there. They have plenty of Islamic connections in Malaysia to help them settle down. But as the Thais now have an undeclared vendetta against the Rohingyas, almost a million Rohingyas are unclear about their future.
The mass population of Myanmar pointed their fingers towards the Rohingyas for the recent violent incidents occurred in the Rakhaine region. The UN reports on the contrary, stated that the Rohingyas suffered way more than the Rakhaines. About 75% of the people killed in those violent incidents were Rohingyas. These riots began when a Rohingya was accused of raping a Rakhaine woman. After that, the Rakhaines pretty much killed all the Rohingyas they laid their eyes upon. Emergency state was declared in that region and the army was dispatched to have the situation under control. Tun Khine, president of the Burma Rohingya Organization in UK, reported that after the emergency state was called, 1,200 Rohingyas have gone missing. More than 100,000 have become homeless and landless. The harassment of the Rohingyas can be traced back to the Second World War where the Japanese killed a huge number of Rohingyas as they supported the British Army. In 1947, the Rohingyas demanded a separate Muslim Region in northern Arakan. This made the Rakhaines and the Myanmar government very angry. In 1978, Operation Kill Dragon was engaged and thousands of Rohingyas were murdered, tortured and gang raped. After that, the Rohingyas were forced to flee to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Karma will hit Bangladeshi soon for neglecting and rejecting the Rohingyas. If there is judgment, Bangladeshis will burn from the ill-fate Rohingyas’ curse. As a selfish human being, I hope that day does not come while I am alive.
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