Rohingyas pose as threat to locals

It was a rainy day at Mosnipara and the roadside tea stall on the way from Teknaf to Cox’s Bazar was doing brisk business. An inquiry about their welfare released a flood of grievances from the local people. The refugees were the source of all their problems. It was because of the Rohingya refugees that they could no longer catch fish, cultivate their land or go to the hills. They were exiles in their own land.

It was apparent from conversations with around 100 Rohingya refugees at the Mosnipara, Moynartek and Kutupalong camps that they were well aware of the brewing resentment among the local populace. They had varied reactions.

Maji Salamatullah, who has come to Mosnipara from Garjandia in Myanmar, has no complaints. He says, “The people here have treated us like brothers. They have shared their homes and their food with us.”

But refugees of the D block in Kutupalong feel that the locals are jealous of them. They say the local people do not realise that life in the camps is like living in cages.

The refugees say that they face a multitude of problems. Nur Kalima has a family of 12 and they all live in a space of 15 by 8 yards.

Abul Kasem’s two children have been going to the learning centre in the camp for the past two years but have learnt nothing.

Nur Amin says it takes an entire day to get any form of medical attention.

The elderly Jawhar Alam said that many of the Rohingyas feel that the local people are benefitting from their arrival. Many of them are getting employment.

The refugees say they may not be in the best of circumstances, but they are secure. They are not dogged by the fear of death. They are grateful to the people of Teknaf and Ukhia.

However, there is a growing distance between the local people and the Rohingya refugees. The Cox’s Bazar district administration and the Inter Sectoral Coordination Group (ISCG) that looks into the Rohingya crisis, are well aware of this problem.

The changing mood in the refugee-populated areas of Cox’s Bazar is easily discernable. When the Rohingyas flooded into the country in 2017, the rehabilitation programme was disorganised. Now there are signboards of UNHCR, IOM and local and international NGOs on either side of the road. Steps have been cut into the hills for easier access to the hilltops. Bamboo bridges are spanning the rivulets. There are healthcare centres, learning centres, centres for women and children and parks for the children. But there has been no change in the lives of the local people of Teknaf and Ukhia.

There are around 1.1 million Rohingyas in Teknaf and Ukhia now. The local population is only 550,000.

Mid-income persons of Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf sadar have said that birth registration has been halted since the arrival of the Rohingyas. The upazila administration confirmed that this was true. They face all sorts of problems to get a passport. House rent has doubled over the past two years. The prices of fish and vegetables have shot up as has transport fare.

Acting upazila nirbahi officer Md Abul Mansur told Prothom Alo that they had informed the coordination committee that the house rent should be same as the house rent allowance of the divisional government officials. There has been no response. The house owners of the area have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. They are renting their houses out at higher prices to the NGO people who are flocking to the area.

Moving away from Teknaf to Ukhia, people’s problems are a bit different. The people here are farmers, fishermen and woodcutters. Many of the owners of croplands in Mosni have leased out land for the Rohingyas to live. According to the agricultural extension department, rice is no longer grown on around 70 hectares of land in the area. Three and a half tonnes of rice would grow per hectare. The farmers are now without work.

The home ministry has stopped fishing on the river Naf in a drive to halt further influx of Rohingyas and drugs. The fishermen are idle.

Syed Nur, a fisherman, said he is trying to eke out a living by cutting wood and working as a day labourer. But even such work is difficult to get as the Rohingyas are willing to work for meagre wages.

Zafar Ahmed has allowed Rohigyas to set up their homes on his land. He told Prothom Alo, he gets around Tk 50,000 to Tk 60,000 a month in house rent, but he is been willing to relinquish that profit. He said that the brewing hatred will reach such proportions within a few years that it will be difficult to keep the situation under control.

Deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, Md Kamal Hossain, told Prothom Alo, the host community has been harmed. The agencies working in the area have been told to ensure that 25 percent of their expenditure goes to the local people so as to maintain a balance among the Rohingyas and the locals.
Professor of international relations at Dhaka University, Imtiaz Ahmed, told Prothom Alo that it is imperative to step up the social security programme for the people of Teknaf and Ukhia. The local people shouldn’t feel deprived. He said it was management flaws and corruption that created difficulties in issuing passports and in birth registration. It was imperative to investigate how, despite this situation, Rohingyas were being given birth registration and issued Bangladeshi passports.

It was apparent that the local people were in fear of becoming the minority in their own land. Abdur Rahman lamented, “We have to display our national ID cards to be able to cultivate our own land. Why?”

Ironically, Rohingya youth Md Sadek, on the other hand, said they would have been so proud to be able to display their national ID cards around their necks. They couldn’t remain in their own homeland because they did not have national ID cards.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.