Millions of Rohingya people, now sheltered in Bangladesh, seem to be in dire straits. Future of their going back home and living in dignity looks a far cry. On the official, humanitarian and diplomatic sides as well, the desperation for a genuine repatriation settlement also looks fragile.
Last week, there was a sudden hype all around about the Rohingya issue, one of the worst cross-border refugee cases in history. There was a good confluence of events that brought alive the issue with a lot of doldrums in the global diplomatic, human rights and media circles. The United Nations released its probe report on Rohingya massacre, the Facebook banned the dedicated page of the Myanmar Army General accused of being the mastermind of the gruesome massacre, human rights organisations calling for trial of the top cadre of the Myanmar Army and the international media dubbing the onslaught on Rohingya or Rakhine Muslims a genocide.
Quite obviously, all these created enough space to peg a feel of optimism about a possible solution to the humanitarian disaster. However, there could not be any stronger degree of hope as the Myanmar authorities still remain to be intransigent and the global action is still far short of the espoused goal of seeing a return of the displaced Rohingya people to their domicile in Myanmar.
Ever since the mass exodus of the Rohingya people from the Rakhine state of Myanmar began a year ago, Bangladesh has been crying aloud in different international fora. As usual, the international bodies and many countries embarked upon mobilising relief efforts, particularly with food and medical assistance. It was a gigantic task and the Bangladesh government immediately drew great global sympathy and appreciation for providing physical shelter. However, for any migration of such a scale, that was the first moral responsibility and Dhaka fulfilled it. The question remains: How long?
The global concern shown recently must not be allowed to lose steam. The Rohingya refugee issue has tremendous social, political, economic and environmental impact for Bangladesh. There are already reports that hundreds of new babies are born in Rohingya refugee camps every month. There are reports that social unrest is brewing in those camps due to lack of income and uncertainty of resettlement. These are reports that lack of education among the children there will prompt a "lost generation". All these are enough to seed the roots of a greater, sustained and complex disaster.
The Rohingya refugee crisis is deepening. Chances of bilateral solutions look grim as the Myanmar authorities remain steadfast in their policies towards the issue. Bangladesh government must roll up socks and sleeves to rally greater global pressure on Myanmar. While the millions of displaced Rohingya people continue to be in dire straits, the issue is indeed susceptible to create a new theatre of social, geo-political and environmental hazards in the region. We do not want to be pinned to such a situation.
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