Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday accused Buddhist-majority Myanmar of committing “atrocities” on Rohingya Muslims, saying Dhaka will not tolerate any kind of injustice and its protest will continue. She also asked Myanmar to “take steps” to take back its nationals who have fled to Bangladesh following the violence.

Advertising

“We want peace and a friendly relation with neighbouring countries…(but) we cannot allow and accept any kind of unjust and our protest will continue to this end,” Hasina said after visiting a Rohingya refugee camp near the border town of Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district. She assured the refugees that Bangladesh would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to them.

“As long as they don’t return to their country we will remain beside them,” she said. “Bangladesh is a country of 16 crore people and we have ensured their basic needs, we also have capability to provide all kinds of help including food and healthcare services to the Myanmar refugees,” she said. “We will not tolerate injustice,” she said, referring to the ethnic violence in neighbouring country that has forced at least 313,000 people to take shelter in Bangladesh.

According to UN estimates, over 1,000 people may have been killed in the crackdown launched by the Myanmar Army in the Rakhine state since August 25 when a fresh wave of violence erupted there. Bangladesh had earlier said the new influx of Rohingya refugees is an unbearable additional burden on the country which has been hosting around 400,000 Myanmar nationals who had to leave their country in the past due to communal violence and repeated military operations.

Advertising

Hasina’s comments came after the parliament last night passed a resolution denouncing Myanmar for the atrocities and called upon the international community to mount intensified pressure on Naypyidaw to stop the atrocities and take back the refugees. “A handful of people of a shadow group had staged the attack which we (Bangladesh) also condemned, but should the entire community of one million populations be punished for that,” the resolution read.

Hasina today said that being the neighbour Bangladesh would extend cooperation whatever Naypyidaw needed “but they will have to first stop inhuman attitude towards these people in Rakhaine and provide them security.” “They (Rohingyas) are human beings and they will live as human beings…Myanmar has no right to deny the Rakhaine people as they are their citizens,” she added.

Hasina said the massive exodus of its own population tarnished Myanmar’s image as “this is not a dignified thing for a country”. Rohingyas have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region.</s>Myanmar's government on Monday faced growing pressure from the United Nations and protesters around the world over its violent military campaign that has already forced nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country. Photo: Reuters

UKHIYA, Bangladesh—The Bangladeshi prime minister visited a refugee camp that has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and demanded that Myanmar “take steps to take their nationals back.”

“We will not tolerate injustice,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at a rally Tuesday at the Kutupalong refugee camp, near the border town of...</s>DHAKA: Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged Myanmar to take back the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in Rakhine state to her country.

 

 Speaking as she visited Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar district, Hasina urged Myanmar to view the situation with humanity, saying innocent people were suffering.

 

 Hasina accused the Myanmar military of committing atrocities and said its actions were in "violation of human rights", and added that Rohingya refugees are Myanmar's nationals and it must take its citizens back.

 

 "Bangladesh wants to maintain peace and good relations with its neighbouring countries, but it cannot accept 'unjust acts' the Myanmar government is committing," the Prime Minister was quoted as saying by the Daily Star newspaper.

 

 "Still, the fire is burning there... people can't find their family members... the bodies of infants and women are floating on the Naf River... these go completely against humanity and are violations of human rights," Hasina said.

 

 Some 370,000 Rohingyas have crossed the border since the violence began in August, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. Myanmar's military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies it is targeting civilians.

 

 But many of those who have fled say troops responded to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25 with a brutal campaign of violence and burning of village aimed at driving them out.

 

 "My personal message is very clear, that they should consider this situation with the eyes of humanity," the Prime Minister told the BBC.

 

 "Because these people, innocent people, the children, women, they are suffering. So these people, they belong to Myanmar. Hundreds of years they are staying there. How they can deny that they are not their citizens?"

 

 Hasina said her country would offer Rohingyas shelter until Myanmar took them back. She also condemned the militants for their role in the violence but said Myanmar's government should have dealt with the situation more patiently. 

 

 She said Bangladesh protests this injustice and inhumane attitude towards Rohingyas in Rakhine state, and renewed her call to the international community to mount pressure on the Myanmar government to take back their nationals.

 

 "Myanmar has to take back their nationals, give them a safe place to live in their homeland. The international community should put pressure on Myanmar... this has to be stopped," she added.

 

 Bangladesh's Parliament passed a resolution on Monday night urging the UN and other countries to mount diplomatic pressure on Myanmar. The government has also decided to collect biometric data from the refugees for a database.

 

 There have been protests in several Muslim-majority nations.

 

 UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said on Monday that the security operation in Rakhine appeared to be "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".</s>Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday accused Buddhist-majority Myanmar of committing “atrocities” on Rohingya Muslims, saying Dhaka will not tolerate any kind of injustice and its protest will continue. She also asked Myanmar to “take steps” to take back its nationals who have fled to Bangladesh following the violence.

“We want peace and a friendly relation with neighbouring countries…(but) we cannot allow and accept any kind of unjust and our protest will continue to this end,” Hasina said after visiting a Rohingya refugee camp near the border town of Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district.

She assured the refugees that Bangladesh would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to them. “As long as they don’t return to their country we will remain beside them,” she said. “Bangladesh is a country of 16 crore people and we have ensured their basic needs, we also have capability to provide all kinds of help including food and healthcare services to the Myanmar refugees,” she said.

“We will not tolerate injustice,” she said, referring to the ethnic violence in neighbouring country that has forced at least 313,000 people to take shelter in Bangladesh.

According to UN estimates, over 1,000 people may have been killed in the crackdown launched by the Myanmar Army in the Rakhine state since August 25 when a fresh wave of violence erupted there. Bangladesh had earlier said the new influx of Rohingya refugees is an unbearable additional burden on the country which has been hosting around 400,000 Myanmar nationals who had to leave their country in the past due to communal violence and repeated military operations.

Hasina’s comments came after the parliament last night passed a resolution denouncing Myanmar for the atrocities and called upon the international community to mount intensified pressure on Naypyidaw to stop the atrocities and take back the refugees. “A handful of people of a shadow group had staged the attack which we (Bangladesh) also condemned, but should the entire community of one million populations be punished for that,” the resolution read.

Hasina today said that being the neighbour Bangladesh would extend cooperation whatever Naypyidaw needed “but they will have to first stop inhuman attitude towards these people in Rakhaine and provide them security.” “They (Rohingyas) are human beings and they will live as human beings…Myanmar has no right to deny the Rakhaine people as they are their citizens,” she added.

Hasina said the massive exodus of its own population tarnished Myanmar’s image as “this is not a dignified thing for a country”. Rohingyas have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region.

Meanwhile, China on Tuesday said it backs the Myanmar government’s efforts to “uphold peace and stability” in Rakhine state. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments as the United Nations Security Council prepared to hold an urgent meeting on the crisis on Wednesday.

Rohingya militants attacked police posts in late August, prompting a military backlash that has sent nearly a third of the Muslim minority population fleeing to Bangladesh. International pressure on Myanmar’s government has increased as UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the violence seemed to be a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

But UN diplomats have said China, one of Myanmar’s main trade partners, has been resisting involvement by the top UN council in addressing the crisis.

“We condemn the violent attacks which happened in Rakhine state in Myanmar,” Geng told a regular news briefing. “We support Myanmar’s efforts in upholding peace and stability in the Rakhine state. We hope order and the normal life there will be recovered as soon as possible,” he said.

“We think the international community should support the efforts of Myanmar in safeguarding the stability of its national development.</s>Bangladesh’s leader demanded that Myanmar allow the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled recent violence in the Buddhist-majority nation – a crisis she said left her speechless. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh would offer the refugees temporary shelter and aid, but that Myanmar should soon “take their nationals back.”

“We will not tolerate injustice,” she said Tuesday at the Kutupalong refugee camp, near the border town of Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district. At least 370,000 Rohingya have flooded into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when Myanmar’s military responded to a major insurgent attack with what it called “clearance operations” to root out the rebels. Many of the fleeing Rohingya have said Myanmar soldiers shot indiscriminately, burned their homes and warned them to leave or die. Others said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.

The crisis has drawn sharp criticism of Myanmar’s government and its leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the killing of Muslims a political disaster and called Suu Kyi a “brutal woman.” UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the Rohingya were victims of what “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Two human rights groups on Tuesday accused the UN Security Council of ignoring the crisis. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International spoke at UN headquarters ahead of closed council discussions Wednesday about the Myanmar situation.

Louis Charbonneau, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, said, “This is an international peace and security crisis” and there is no excuse for the Security Council “sitting on its hands.”

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim body, is urging Myanmar to allow in UN monitors so they can investigate what it alleges is systematic brutality against the Rohingya. The UN Human Rights Council approved an investigative mission earlier this year, but Myanmar in June refused to allow it to enter. An envoy’s visit in July was met with protests.

In Myanmar, a Rohingya man said security forces arrived Monday in the village of Pa Din, firing guns, setting new fires to homes and driving out hundreds of Rohingya. “People were scared and running out of the village,” the villager said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

Myanmar police, however, said the houses were burned by terrorists they called Bengalis, a term used derisively in Myanmar against Rohingya. Myanmar’s military said Rohingya villagers helped them arrest six suspected insurgents armed with swords and slingshots on Monday. The military commander in chief’s office posted on Facebook that the six were detained as they entered Ka Nyin Tan village in Maungdaw township.

In Bangladesh, Kutupalong and another existing Rohingya camp were already beyond capacity. Bangladesh has said it would provide 2,000 acres (810 hectares) for a new camp in Cox’s Bazar district to help shelter new arrivals. Some were staying in schools or huddling in makeshift settlements along roads and in open fields. Basic resources were scarce, including food, clean water and medical aid.

Aid agencies have been overwhelmed by the influx of Rohingya, many of whom are arriving hungry and traumatized after walking for days through jungles or being packed into rickety wooden boats in search of safety in Bangladesh. The government hospital in Cox’s Bazar has been overwhelmed by Rohingya patients, with 80 arriving with gunshot wounds as well as bad infections.

At least three Rohingya were wounded by land mines amid accusations that Myanmar’s government had planted new mines along the routes Rohingya are using to flee. Dozens also have drowned when boats capsized during sea and river crossings. Myanmar’s authorities said more than a week ago that some 400 people _ mostly described as insurgents _ had died in clashes with troops, but it has offered no updated death toll since.

Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots there. Before Aug. 25, Bangladesh had already been housing some 500,000 Rohingya who arrived after bloody anti-Muslim rioting in 2012 or amid earlier persecution drives in Myanmar.

The OIC, in its statement issued Tuesday, called on Muslim countries to work together to help the Rohingya refugees. It made its decision after an emergency meeting on the sidelines of a technology conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>The Bangladesh government says it has offered a plot of land for a new camp to shelter Rohingya Muslims who have fled recent violence in Myanmar.

The violence has driven nearly 300,000 Rohingya to flee Buddhist-majority Myanmar, with many of them packed into existing camps or huddled in makeshift settlements that have mushroomed along roadsides and in open fields across Cox’s Bazar district on the border.

Bangladesh’s junior Foreign Minister Mohammed Shahriar Alam said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had 2 acres (.8 hectares) near the existing camp of Kutupalong “to build temporary shelters for the Rohingya newcomers,” according to a message posted Monday on his Facebook account.

He also said the government would be registering the new arrivals on Monday. Hasina is scheduled to visit Rohingya refugees on Tuesday.</s>UKHIYA, Bangladesh — The Latest on violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the flood of ethnic Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh (all times local):

Myanmar’s military says Rohingya Muslim villagers helped them arrest six suspected Rohingya insurgents armed with swords and slingshots in the country’s conflict-torn northern Rakhine state.

The government says the six are suspected of being members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which attacked police posts Aug. 25. Violence since then has sent hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing, burned 60 villages and left hundreds dead. The government and Rohingya blame each other.

The military commander in chief’s office said Tuesday on its Facebook page that six alleged insurgents were detained Monday by fellow Rohingya as they entered Ka Nyin Tan village in Maungdaw township.

Authorities in Buddhist-majority Myanmar refer to Rohingya as Bengalis, contending that they immigrated illegally from nearby Bangladesh, though many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The U.N. refugee agency says the number of Rohingya refugees that have fled recent violence in Myanmar has spiked to about 370,000.

That new estimate given Tuesday in a statement by UNHCR is more than 50,000 higher than Monday’s estimate — a result of aid agencies reaching “more villages, hamlet and pockets where refugees have gathered.”

Thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims have been arriving daily by foot across the swampy border as well as by rickety wooden boats travelling on wild seas since violence erupted on Aug. 25 in Myanmar.

The influx has left Bangladesh refugee camps reeling. The UNHCR said it was flying in two shipments of aid materials including jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and shelter materials.

It said the goods would help some 25,000 refugees at jam-packed refugee camps in Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar. More airlifts were planned in coming days.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has strongly condemned the killing of Muslims in Myanmar by the government.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the killing of Rohingya Muslims is a political disaster for Myanmar because it is being carried out by a government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he called a “brutal woman.”

He urged Muslim countries to take practical steps to stop the violence and said they should “increase political, economic and commercial pressures on the government of Myanmar.”

At least 313,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts, prompting Myanmar’s military to retaliate with what it called “clearance operations” to root out the rebels.

Myanmar authorities said more than a week ago that some 400 Rohingya, mostly insurgents, had died in clashes with troops, but it has offered no update. It has also blamed Rohingya for burning their own homes even though new fires were occurring after Rohingya fled.

The Bangladeshi prime minister is visiting a struggling refugee camp that has absorbed some of the hundreds of thousands who fled recent violence in Myanmar.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told a rally during Tuesday’s visit to the Kutupalong refugee camp, near the border town of Ukhiya, that she wished for peace for the Rohingya and would not “tolerate injustice” against them.

She pledged that Bangladesh would do its best to help the Rohingya, but said Myanmar should take steps soon to “take their nationals back.”

On Monday night, she lambasted Myanmar for “atrocities” that she said had reached a level beyond description.

The Bangladeshi leader has lambasted Myanmar for the “atrocities” that have driven hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged Buddhist-majority Myanmar to bring the Rohingya back, while parliament passed a motion Monday night urging the U.N. and other countries to pressure Myanmar for their safety and citizenship.

“Myanmar must take back every Rohingya who has entered Bangladesh and who are coming in now,” she told lawmakers late Monday. “We can co-operate to rehabilitate them in their country.”

Hasina criticized Myanmar’s authorities for the recent violence against the Rohingya, which she said had reached a level beyond description.

The United States says it is “deeply troubled” by the Myanmar crisis, which hundreds of thousands of Muslims have fled to escape violence.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the administration continues to condemn the violence between Rohingya Muslims and Myanmar security forces.

The United Nations reported Monday that 313,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine — the biggest flight of the minority Rohingya in a generation.

The violence began Aug. 25, when an ethnic Rohingya insurgent group attacked police posts in Myanmar and security forces retaliated.

Villages were burned and hundreds of people died, mainly Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship and regarded by Myanmar’s majority Buddhists as illegal immigrants.</s>Bangladesh has agreed to free a plot of land for a new camp to shelter hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled recent violence in Myanmar, an official said Monday.

The new camp will help relieve some pressure on existing settlements in the Bangladeshi border district of Cox's Bazar, where nearly 300,000 Rohingya have arrived since Aug. 25.

"The two refugees camps we are in are beyond overcrowded," said U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Vivian Tan.

Other new arrivals were being sheltered in schools, or were huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields. Basic resources were scarce, including food, clean water and medical aid.

Still, refugees were still arriving. An Associated Press reporter witnessed hundreds streaming into the border at Shah Puri Dwip on Monday.

"Tomorrow we are expecting an airlift of relief supplies for 20,000 people," Tan said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had offered 2 acres (.8 hectares) near the existing camp of Kutupalong "to build temporary shelters for the Rohingya newcomers," according to a Facebook post Monday by Mohammed Shahriar Alam, a junior minister for foreign affairs.

He also said the government would begin registering the new arrivals on Monday. Hasina is scheduled to visit Rohingya refugees on Tuesday.

Aid agencies have been overwhelmed by the influx of Rohingya, many of whom are arriving hungry and traumatized after walking days through jungles or packing into rickety wooden boats in search of safety on the Bangladeshi side of the border.

Many tell similar stories — of Myanmar soldiers firing indiscriminately on their villages, burning their homes and warning them to leave or to die. Some say they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.

The government hospital in Cox's Bazar has been overwhelmed by Rohingya patients, with 80 arriving in the last two weeks suffering gunshot wounds as well as bad infections. At least three have been wounded in land mine blasts, and dozens have drowned when boats capsized during sea crossings.

The violence and exodus began on Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution by security forces in the majority Buddhist country.

In response, the military unleashed what it called "clearance operations" to root out the insurgents. Accounts from refugees show the Myanmar military is also targeting civilians with shootings and wholesale burning of Rohingya villages in an apparent attempt to purge Rakhine state of Muslims.

Bloody anti-Muslim rioting that erupted in 2012 in Rakhine state forced more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps in Bangladesh, where many still live today.

Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region. Myanmar denies Rohingya exist as an ethnic group and says those living in Rakhine are illegal migrants from Bangladesh</s>The Bangladeshi prime minister on Tuesday visited a struggling refugee camp that has absorbed some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled recent violence in Myanmar — a crisis she said left her speechless.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded that Myanmar "take steps to take their nationals back," and assured temporary aid until that happened.

"We will not tolerate injustice," she said at a rally at the Kutupalong refugee camp, near the border town of Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district.

On Monday night, she lambasted Buddhist-majority Myanmar for "atrocities" that she said had reached a level beyond description, telling lawmakers she had "no words to condemn Myanmar" and noting that Bangladesh had long been protesting the persecution of Rohingya Muslims.

At least 313,000 Rohingya have flooded into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts, prompting Myanmar's military to retaliate with what it called "clearance operations" to root out the rebels.

The crisis has drawn sharp criticism from around the world. The U.N. human rights chief said the violence and injustice faced by the ethnic Rohingya minority in Myanmar — where U.N. rights investigators have been barred from entry — "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

"The Myanmar government should stop pretending that the Rohingya are setting fire to their own homes and laying waste to their own villages," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said Monday in Geneva, calling it a "complete denial of reality."

Meanwhile, a Rohingya villager in Myanmar said security forces had arrived Monday in the village of Pa Din village, firing guns, setting new fires to homes and driving hundreds of Rohingya to flee.

"People were scared and running out of the village," the villager said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

Myanmar police disputed that, saying the houses were burned by terrorists they called Bengalis. That term is used derisively by many in Myanmar to describe the Rohingya, who they say migrated illegally from neighboring Bangladesh, though many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Bangladesh has said it would free 2,000 acres (810 hectares) of land for a new camp in Cox's Bazar district, to help shelter newly arrived Rohingya. The government was also fingerprinting and registering new arrivals.

Kutupalong and another pre-existing Rohingya camps were already beyond capacity. Other new arrivals were staying in schools, or huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields.

Aid agencies have been overwhelmed by the influx of Rohingya, many of whom are arriving hungry and traumatized after walking days through jungles or being packed into rickety wooden boats in search of safety in Bangladesh.

Many tell similar stories - of Myanmar soldiers firing indiscriminately on their villages, burning their homes and warning them to leave or to die. Some say they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.

In the last two weeks, the government hospital in Cox's Bazar has been overwhelmed by Rohingya patients, with 80 arriving in the last two weeks suffering gunshot wounds as well as bad infections.

At least three Rohingya have been wounded in land mine blasts, and dozens have drowned when boats capsized during sea crossings.

Myanmar's authorities said more than a week ago that some 400 Rohingya - mostly insurgents - had died in clashes with troops, but it has offered no updated death toll since.

Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region.

Before Aug. 25, Bangladesh had already been housing more than 100,000 Rohingya who arrived after bloody anti-Muslim rioting in 2012 or amid earlier persecution drives in Myanmar.</s>Bangladesh has agreed to free land for a new camp to shelter some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled recent violence in Myanmar, an official said Monday. The new camp will help relieve some pressure on existing settlements in the Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar, where nearly 300,000 Rohingya have arrived since August 25.

“The two refugees camps we are in are beyond overcrowded,” said UN refugee agency spokeswoman Vivian Tan. Other new arrivals were being sheltered in schools, or were huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields. Basic resources were scarce, including food, clean water and medical aid. Still, more refugees were arriving. An Associated Press reporter witnessed hundreds streaming through the border at Shah Puri Dwip on Monday.

“Tomorrow we are expecting an airlift of relief supplies for 20,000 people,” Tan said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had offered 2 acres near the existing camp of Kutupalong “to build temporary shelters for the Rohingya newcomers,” according to a Facebook post Monday by Mohammed Shahriar Alam, a junior minister for foreign affairs.

He also said the government would begin fingerprinting and registering the new arrivals on Monday. Hasina is scheduled to visit Rohingya refugees on Tuesday. Aid agencies have been overwhelmed by the influx of Rohingya, many of whom are arriving hungry and traumatized after walking days through jungles or packing into rickety wooden boats in search of safety in Bangladesh.

Many tell similar stories of Myanmar soldiers firing indiscriminately on their villages, burning their homes and warning them to leave or to die. Some say they were attacked by Buddhist mobs. The government hospital in Cox’s Bazar has been overwhelmed by Rohingya patients, with 80 arriving in the last two weeks suffering gunshot wounds as well as bad infections. At least three have been wounded in land mine blasts, and dozens have drowned when boats capsized during sea crossings.

The violence and exodus began on Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution by security forces in the majority Buddhist country. In response, the military unleashed what it called “clearance operations” to root out the insurgents. Accounts from refugees show the Myanmar military is also targeting civilians with shootings and wholesale burning of Rohingya villages in an apparent attempt to purge Rakhine state of Muslims.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accuses the Burmese government of "atrocities" against the Rohingya people and calls for these alleged atrocities to stop.