By Md. Kamruzzaman
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Hundreds of Rohingya refugees in southeast Bangladesh held a protest on Wednesday against the killing and torturing of their community members in Myanmar, a Rohingya member told Anadolu Agency.
Holding banners and placards, the refugees at a camp gathered and formed a human chain, demanding an immediate end to the killings and torturing in Myanmar’s Rakhine state .
“Due to restrictions, we did not gather in huge numbers. Some 300 members of us peacefully took part in today’s demonstration just to highlight that we are still being killed in Myanmar,” Ansar Ali, a Rohingya at the camp, told Anadolu Agency.
He said one of his cousins was shot dead by the Myanmar military on Tuesday. “Almost every day the Tatmadaw [Myanmar Army] kill Rohingya in Arakan [Rakhine],” he added,
According to him, hundreds of Rohingya have fled their homes due to the ongoing violence in the Rakhine state.
“Save Rohingya from mass killings. Stop genocide against Rohingya,” a placard in the demonstration read.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has recently found fresh evidence of “indiscriminate attacks on civilians in western Myanmar,” while Human Rights Watch has warned against “long-term marginalization” of the Rohingya.
- Persecuted people
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, entitled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.
As many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes burned down, while 113,000 others vandalized, it added.