This photo taken on January 7, 2024 shows a fire racing through a crammed camp of Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar. — UNB photo
Repeated incidents of fire in the overcrowded Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar in this winter have added to the sufferings of the stateless people from Myanmar, while no criminal investigations have been done to avert the repetition.
At least three fire incidents took place in the Rohingya camps between December 31 and January 10, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defence.
The fires have caused displacement of many of the vulnerable community, those who took shelter in the camps as a result of an influx in August 2017, following carnage in Myanmar.
Authorities have only investigated whether the fires were deliberate arson attacks or accidental incidents, while no criminal investigations have so far been launched to identify the perpetrators.
Talking to New Age, a number of Bangladeshi officials and Rohingya leaders said that in most of the cases, miscreants set areas of camps on fire over rivalry and to reclaim their dominance, resulting in displacement of the camp inhabitants.
On January 7, an extensive fire broke out in the Rohingya refugee Camp-5 at about 1:00am with the flames burning for around three hours.
Additional commissioner Md Shamsud Douza, based in the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, told New Age that over 800 families have been displaced in the overnight fire.
He said that they are currently staying at their relatives’ shelter rooms, while the authorities arranged their meals.
The UNICEF stated that at least 1,500 children have lost access to education as the January 7 fire has destroyed 20 of their learning facilities in Ukhiya upazila.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence’s Ukhiya station officer Shafiqul Islam said that three fire incidents were reported between December 31 and January 10, causing massive damages.
Separate probe committees have been set up that are now examining whether the fires were accidents or deliberate attacks, he said.
Cox’s Bazar police superintendent Mahfuzul Islam admitted that no criminal investigations into the fire incidents have initiated so far.
‘We helped the authorities mainly in the rescue operations,’ he said, adding, ‘the police had only 1,600 personnel for 28 lakh population in the Cox’s Bazar district before the 2017 influx.’
The home ministry, from onward 2021, deployed 2,000 personnel from the Armed Police Battalion for the security of the Rohingya refugee camps with 10 lakh inhabitants.
The Armed Police Battalion personnel deployed at the camp, however, are not empowered to conduct investigations into criminal incidents, said the police.
On March 5, 2023, a massive fire broke out that affected around 16,000 people of 3,011 families, causing significant damages to their facilities and displacing 5,000 individuals.
Moreover, the authorities estimated 155 critical infrastructural installations, including learning centres, women friendly spaces, women-led community centres, child friendly spaces, moktubs-cum-mosques, to be destroyed.
No criminal investigation was initiated to identify the perpetrators when the Rohingya residents alleged sabotage.
A Rohingya youth leader, Myo Myint Naing, said a number of fires took place due to the rivalry between Rohingya armed groups, but the incidents ultimately have affected a large number of innocent residents of the camps.
New Age
