Description:
Many homeless Rohingya prefer hunger in a hostile land to life in Burma...
"I?ve lost everything in my life and now I can only pray that I don?t get sent back to Burma,? said Haziqah, a 27-year-old Rohingya resident of the unofficial Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh...
Before joining the camp, Haziqah lived in the Bandarban Hill Tract, about 150 km [93 miles] to the north, where many Rohingya refugees from Burma have settled. She and her husband managed to survive on the meager wages he earned from odd jobs in the area and were starting to hope they could lead a normal existence.
Rohingya men gather round to listen to Haziqah tell her story. (Photo: ALEX ELLGEE)
But then, one morning seven days after giving birth to her first child, soldiers from the Bangladeshi border force, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), stormed their village. Rounding up all the Rohingyas living there, they marched them toward the Bangladesh-Burma border.
During the march, she said, the soldiers beat her husband severely and pushed her along, ignoring the week-old baby in her arms. When they reached the top of a hill bordering Burma, the soldiers simply gave them a shove to send them back to the country from which they had fled..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 1
Date of Publication:
2010-01-00
Date of entry:
2010-02-28
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
