Uneasy calm

According to a very reliable United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report prepared recently, the security situation in Cox's Bazar operational area, including the refugee camps, is showing an uneasy calm. Criminal gangs have been lying low over the past weeks for unexplained reasons. However, two refugees were killed in Kutupalong camp by criminal gangs, and drug-related crimes remain the dominant threat in the camps. The gangs' lying low could be for tactical reasons.

Meanwhile, three organisations — Amra Cox's Bazar Bashi, Cox's Bazar Citizens Forum and Cox's Bazar Sushil Somaj — which comprise the anti-NGO movement, disclosed their plan to demonstrate outside the UNHCR and RRRC offices in Cox's Bazar on June 20. The demonstrators demanded a speedy start of the repatriation process. In the past, these kinds of protests had remained peaceful but, in future, such rallies have every chance of turning violent.

In a related development, on June 9, a Cox's Bazar court sentenced a Rohingya refugee to death in absentia for the offence of drug possession (Death sentence is the highest punishment for drug offences in Bangladesh, and this is the first death sentence issued to a Rohingya refugee in the country for a narcotics conviction). The verdict was indicative that the death sentence was intended to be seen as a deterrent for drug peddlers.

In the meantime, a Rohingya community leader (Majhi) was killed by criminals at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on June 9. Further, another refugee was stabbed to death by criminals at camp-4 in Kutupalong on 11 June. Reports suggest that some 8-10 criminals entered the house of the victim and stabbed him. It is alleged that the members of ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) are the perpetrators for previous enmity. We therefore see a killing spree in the Cox's Bazar refugee camps. It is also observed that the camps remain calm when the security forces become very active after some serious security incidents. The trend shows that there is no abatement in the occurrences of major crimes.

In a sensational development, on June 10, demonstrations were held in different parts of Cox's Bazar to protest against the remarks on Prophet Muhammad by a BJP spokesperson in India. After the Friday prayers, hundreds of worshipers from Ramu Central Mosque attended the protest procession. Similar processions and protest rallies were also reported at Balukhali-Ghumdhum in Ukhiya. This development has turned sensational because Rohingyas are being used by vested quarters for anti-India propaganda and this is noteworthy.

On the same day, there were incidents of demonstrations after Friday prayers at Dhaka's Baitul Mukarram Mosque in protest of the remarks about Prophet Muhammad. Similar processions were held at Chattagram, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and many other districts in Bangladesh. By the ongoing trend, it would appear that Rohingyas are gradually becoming a potential target of convenient exploitation by the groups of jehadi mindset, who want to use them for furthering their objectives of vitiating the atmosphere, especially in Bangladesh. Why Bangladesh? Because it is poised for the next parliamentary elections, possibly in 2023, and provides a breeding ground for communalisation. They, in all likelihood, will also embark upon terror-linked activities which will definitely be to the disadvantage of the Bangladesh ruling party and its affiliates, who believe in a politics of secularism and are also decidedly anti-zealots.

Such developments apart, Rohingya camps continue to be radicalised, targeting a section of the gullible and vulnerable refugees possessing a mindset of religious extremism. It is reliably gathered from the sources ensconced within the Directorate General of the Forces Intelligence (DGFI), and National Security and Intelligence (NSI) that Pakistani ISI elements are directly active in carrying out radicalisation programmes and they are systematically brainwashing the targeted elements, rather inciting them, to use aggressive and vitriolic rhetoric against India, particularly on the burning topic of anti-Prophet statements made by some BJP leaders. Such nefarious designs perpetrated by Pakistan ISI must be neutralised through operations. Plus, India and Bangladesh diplomatic channels must be optimised to ensure that the zealots do not succeed in getting the better of the liberals, and not get a foothold to foster fanaticism and spread anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh and India. Communal tension is the last thing a progressive world can afford at this critical juncture.

The writer is a retired IPS officer, a security analyst and a former National Security Advisor to the PM of Mauritius. Views expressed are personal