Bangladesh Conducts Census of Illegal Burmese Citizens in Bangladesh

Narinjara News
Teknaf : Bangladesh Rifles is currently compiling a list of illegal Burmese citizens who are living in the country's eastern border township, in order to determine how many are in the area, said a local source.

The source said that the Bangladesh Rifles Battalion 42 from Teknaf is currently compiling the list of illegal Burmese citizens who are living in Teknaf Township, opposite Burma's western border town Maungdaw.

According to a BDR source, the border authorities pushed 2,022 Burmese citizens, mostly Rohingya, back into Burma from January to May of this year. However, Burmese citizens continued crossing the border into Bangladesh illegally in spite of BDR's efforts to arrest and repatriate them.

Lieutenant Colonel Mozammel Hossain, Commanding Officer of BDR Battalion 42, told this correspondent recently that Burmese citizens from Arakan State have been illegally crossing the Bangladesh border during the last few years, adding that BDR had begun preparing a list of illegal immigrants in Teknaf last week.

He also said that Burmese who are living illegally in Teknaf and the surrounding areas are engaged in gangs, rioting, and grabbing land as strong-men. The list of names of Burmese living in the area without documentation will be sent to BDR headquarters for further instructions.

Bangladesh authorities believe that many Burmese, mostly Rohingyas, are living illegally in Bangladesh in Chittagong, Bandarban, and Cox's Bazar Districts. They had crossed into Bangladesh through the border with Arakan during the last 20 years.

According to a refugee repatriation committee in Cox's Bazar, a total of 28,000 out of 250,667 Burmese citizens have been waiting to return to their homeland at Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Ukiah and Teknaf in Cox's Bazar since 1992.