Dhaka on the 26th of August : Many thousands of Rohingya Muslims rallied in Bangladeshi refugee camps to protest against the brutal crackdown that was carried out in the past five years by the Myanmar military. “We need justice!” protested refugees on Thursday morning, when they gathered in front of their temporary homes in the Cox’s Bazar district of Cox’s Bazar.
The demonstration with over 10,000 participants commemorated the five-year anniversary of the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar according to the news agency dpa.
The community leaders demanded the secure and dignified return of the refugees to their homes.
Bangladesh has been home to over 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar in the last decades in squalid camps close to the border with Myanmar.
Around 750,000 of them have crossed the border in the aftermath of an attack by the military on the minorities group by majority Buddhists of Myanmar on the 25th of August 2017.
“We do not want to remain in camps for the rest of our the rest of our lives, it’s painful.We want to return to our homes,” Muhammad Zubair, one of the community leaders, said during an audience at Kutupalong camp which is one of the largest refugee settlements in the world.
Two previous attempts at repatriating the Rohingya according to the agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar ended in failure in 2019, after the refugees refused the invitation for a return due to security concerns.
The UN on Thursday demanded a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis.
“I will continue to push for more participation of nations in the region in aiding Bangladesh and increasing their power with Myanmar to create favorable conditions to allow the voluntary, safe and secure return of refugees,” UN special envoy Noeleen Heyzer said during a visit to Bangladesh.
