Bangladesh medical camp serving Rohingyas refugees in no-man’s land

Border Guard Bangladesh has set up a medical camp to extend support to the thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Myanmar, 

who are now stranded in no man's land along the Naikhyangchhari border and waiting to enter Bangladesh territory.

Several thousand Rohingyas from Myanmar, mostly women, children and elderly people, are waiting in no man's land along the Naikhyangchhari border to enter Bangladesh territory.Though Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) remains active against trespassing, more than 10,000 Rohingyas have already managed to get into Bangladesh through several points of the 274km Bangladesh-Myanmar border of Cox's Bazar and Bandarban.

Violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine State on Friday triggering a fresh influx of refugees towards Bangladesh. Every day, the Myanmar military is conducting patrols by helicopter along the border. Sounds of gunshots came from the other side yesterday morning.

Some Rohingya people with bullet and burn injuries have been admitted to different hospitals in the last three days. They claim to be the victims of Myanmar military offensive.“A total of seven bullet-hit patients have been admitted to our hospital in the last two days,” Dr Shahin Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, resident medical officer of Cox's Bazar Sadar Medical Hospital, told The Daily Star yesterday.At least 11 others with bullet and burn injuries have come to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.The local authorities are officially denying that already thousands of Rohingyas have arrived in Bangladesh since the outbreak of fresh conflicts in Myanmar. 

“People are coming to Bangladesh like floodwater. My estimation based on reports of different agencies is the number of newly arrived Rohingyas will be 20,000 to 25,000. But I cannot tell the media about it revealing my identity,” said a top official, Sarowar Kamal, upazila nirbahi officer of Naikhyangchhari, Bandarban, claims that no Rohingya has entered Bangladesh territory and those who crossed the Myanmar border are still waiting in no man's land.

UNHCR in a statement yesterday said that a total of 5,200 people came to Bangladesh from Myanmar as of Sunday.
Crossing the barbed-wire fence marking the Myanmar border, Rohingyas have put up a few hundred makeshift tents using polythene sheets and bamboos by the Tambru canal near Tambru Bazar in Ghumdhum, Naikhyangchhari.The refugees set up the makeshift tents on the no-man’s land on the other side of Tambru canal in the last six days. From time to time, they cross the canal in knee-deep water to collect essentials (food, water) from the Bangladesh territory after requesting BGB.

At least 200-300 Rohingya refugees have been seeking treatment daily at the medical camp which was set up two days back,

Dr Mohammad Shahidul Islam, who is treating them, said they are giving the treatment for free.

The patients, mostly children and women, mainly come with complaints of fever, colds, diarrhea, minor cuts and scrapes and skin diseases, 

Meanwhile, a Rohingya refugee, Dil Mohammad, who fled from his home in Medi village, 

six kilometers inward of Myanmar, said he has been staying in the camp for the last six days.

“About 10,000 people from 12 villages in Myanmar have fled the country and have come here,”

 Dil Mohammad said.

A few youths from Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar have also brought relief materials 

to the make-shift camp set up in no-man’s land (Zero point of Tambru border point).

A team of International Red Crescent Society also visited the camp site in  the morning. 

Border Guard Bangladesh today detained 75 Rohingya refugees in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar and sent them back as hundreds of them continue to try to enter Bangladesh through different unguarded border points since the last four days. 

They were detained around 5:00am from Shah Porir Dwip when they were trying to illegally enter Bangladesh by boats, our Cox’s Bazar correspondent reports quoting Director of BGB Teknaf Battalion-2 Lt Col SM Ariful Islam. BGB provided the Rohingya refugees with some food and medication before sending them back, the official said.Meanwhile, police detained 325 Rohingya refugees from different points including Jelerpara and Jaliyapara in the upazila between 8:00pm yesterday and 5:00am today, the BGB official said.

They were trying to enter Bangladesh territory by boats, he added.The detained 325 Rohingya refugees are now at border outposts (BOP) and will be sent back later in the day, the official said.Many hundreds more also took shelter on no man's land after failing to cross the border since August 25.

Bangladesh saw a fresh exodus of refugees after at least 89 people were killed as Rohingya militants besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State of Myanmar on August 25.

Thousands suffer for want of a bridge

Thousands of people of eight villages under two unions in Madarganj upazila in the district are suffering for long just for want of a permanent bridge over river Kharka.
Commuters are now using a 120ft long bamboo-made temporary bridge which is built by locals every year since the opening of Gabergram market on the west bank of the river in 2000.
The villages are Sukhnagari, Purbo Tartapara and Paschim Tartapara under Balijuri union, Khilkati, Phuljur, Paschim Gulabari, Atamari and Haatmagura under Jurkhali union on the south-east side of the river.
As a result, people including farmers, students and patients of the villages are facing a troublesome communication as they have to cross the bamboo-made bridge to reach the market, the upazila headquarters, health complex and a number of educational institutions including the lone girls college located on the other side of the river.
High school and college-going students and patients, especially elderly ones and expecting mothers, are the worst sufferers, locals said.
Moreover, as Balijuri union parishad (UP) was set up at Sukhnagari village, the beneficiaries of five villages located on south-west and north-west of the river, are suffering much for want of a bridge, said Manzurul Islam Musa, chairman of the union.
They face troubles while carrying their VGF and VGD food or while coming to visit the parishad to have different local government services, the chairman said. The UP itself also faces problems when food items for the vulnerable group and other materials brought to the parishad by horse carriages through alternative Khilkati-Junail road as it is 7-8km more than the actual distance, he said.
During a recent visit to the villages, a number of locals including farmers and students told this correspondent that they were in dire need of a bridge over the river for carrying goods to the market on haat days and going to school.
Contacted, Jugal Krishna Mandol, local LGED engineer, said his office had sent a Tk. 3.25 crore proposal to the higher authorities concerned for a bridge in 2011, but to no effect yet.
“We will again write with a revised estimate of over Tk. 4 crore to build a 75-metre bridge over the river soon”, the engineer added.

Bangladeshi youth delegation leaves for India tomorrow

As part of the Indian government’s initiative to strengthen people-to-people contact, a 100-member Bangladeshi youth delegation will pay a weeklong visit to India from tomorrow.
The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Indian government is organising the visit for the second time, said a press release of the Indian high commission. The first visit of another 100 youths took place from October 6 to 13 last year.
The delegation comprises young doctors, engineers, management graduates, business people, entrepreneurs, journalists, musicians and students, it said.
The delegation will visit the capital New Delhi, Agra, Bengaluru and Mysore, tour prominent cultural and historical sites and hold interactions in

educational, business, IT and technological institutions.
They are also expected to call on President Pranab Mukherjee.
Prior to the visit, the high commission will organise a pre-departure interaction with the delegation at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in the capital’s Gulshan-1 today at 4:00pm.
Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran will address the delegation while cricketer Shakib Al Hasan and film personality Jaya Ahsan will also be present.

Dhaka-Delhi talks begin tomorrow

The Joint Customs Group of Dhaka and New Delhi will begin a two-day meeting tomorrow in Dhaka aiming to remove customs related complexities for further strengthening bilateral trade.
Sumit Bose, revenue secretary to India’s Ministry of Finance, will lead a high-level Indian delegation at the talks on October 21-22.
The Bangladesh side will be led by Md Ghulam Hussain, chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
“The talks will take place within the established bilateral framework of the Joint Group of Customs (JGC),” said an official. This is the ninth round of the JGC meeting. The eighth round was held in New Delhi on April 25-26 last year.
Official sources said the discussion agenda included 17 topics. At the meeting, Bangladesh will emphasis development of infrastructure of land customs stations, and removal of complexities regarding export of handloom textiles, among others.
The Indian revenue secretary will visit Chittagong Port and the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Chittagong, said a press release of the Indian high commission.
It said that India-Bangladesh trade had expanded after India announced duty-free, quota-free access of exports from Bangladesh in September 2011.
Bangladesh exports to India have grown from US$498.4 million in 2011-12 to $563.9 million in 2012-13, which marks an increase of 13.15 percent, and is the highest ever level of exports from Bangladesh to India, the release added.
In the forthcoming talks, the two sides are expected to review the existing mechanism for exchange of customs related information, infrastructure facilities available at the Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and deal with procedural bottlenecks related to trade such as testing facilities, online processing facilities congestion, documentation etc.

PM to head all-party interim gov

Environment and Forest Minister Hasan Mahmud yesterday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would head the all-party interim government during the upcoming national election.
His remarks came a day after the premier proposed to form an all-party interim government and a cabinet comprising opposition MPs, among others, to conduct the election.
Speaking at a discussion of Projonmo Bangabandhu at the capital’s Jatiya Press Club, the minister said the opposition’s “ill intention will be exposed if it doesn’t respond to the PM’s call”.
The main opposition BNP has long been saying it will not join any election under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, while Jatiya Party called the proposal “vague”.
Separately, State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam yesterday hinted that the two major political parties might exchange letters for talks soon, reports the BSS.
“At the talks, decisions will be taken on how the Election Commission can be made stronger and which party will be given how much power,” he said, referring to the proposal on an all-party cabinet.
Addressing a discussion of Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote at Dhaka Reporters Unity, Quamrul urged the BNP to sit for talks as soon as possible.
Referring to the USA, India, Japan and Australia, Hasan Mahmud said that in all those democracies, an interim government was always headed by the one who led the immediate past government. “The same way, the incumbent prime minister will head the interim government in Bangladesh.”
He claimed that his party should be credited for its “liberal stance” in inviting the opposition to join the poll-time government though there was no constitutional obligation for this. “If the opposition leader does not respond even after all these, I will assume that you want to hamper democracy.”
Advocate Quamrul said, “Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s address to the nation on Friday, it’s now the responsibility of the main opposition BNP to decide whether to take to the field with machetes and axes or to choose the path of peace.”
“There shall be discussions on matters relating to the size of the interim government, its responsibilities and the executive power to be exercised by it. But, there are no more smokescreens over the issue following the premier’s realistic proposal,” he said.
The state minister hoped that the BNP would not strike panic and fear into the public mind any more over October 25, when it was supposed to take to the streets demanding restoration of the caretaker government system.
Meanwhile, United National Awami Party, Samprodaikata-Jongibad Birodhi Mancha, and Sammilito Samajik Andolon yesterday issued separate statements welcoming the PM’s proposal.

Khaleda reacts to PM’s proposal Monday

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will hold a press conference Monday afternoon to give their reaction to the prime minister’s proposal for forming an all-party election-time government.

She will also brief the media about October 25 rally and announce their next course of action to strengthen their anti-government movement, said party insiders.

The press conference will be held at 4:00pm at Hotel Sarena in Gulshan of the capital, Sayrul Kabir Khan, a member of the BNP chairperson’s press wing, told The Daily Star.

The opposition leader this evening will meet top leaders of the BNP-led 18-party alliance at her Gulshan office to discuss latest political situation and decide next course of action.

The leaders will also hold discussion on what to do if the government refuses to give permission for holding October 25 rally in the capital, the party insiders said.

Ban won’t affect talks: Quader

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said he did not think that the ban on political gatherings would be a hindrance to discussions and mutual understanding regarding the election-time government.

The minister came up with the remark while responding to a question from journalists at his office at Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday.
He however said the ban has been imposed to ensure security of public life and property as a precaution on the basis of information pertaining to sabotage of huge scale.
The minister further said the opposition parties should take the opportunity as the prime minister’s proposal has opened the door for dialogue.