The relocation plan of the Rohingya refugees from Cox’s Bazar to a Bay of Bengal island has come under criticism from various human rights groups.
The Human Rights Watch has asked the Bangladesh government to immediately drop its plan to transfer refugees to what it termed “an uninhabited, undeveloped coastal island”.
However, the government maintains that the island — Thengar Char — which was thought to be the new “temporary home” for the refugees, is not uninhabited. The government also said the plan will be materialised only after all necessary facilities are made available.
The Bangladesh government, which has received nearly 70,000 Rohingya refugees, contended that the new arrivals, in addition to thousands of those who arrived on earlier occasions from Myanmar, have already posed law and order challenges and public health hazards.
