FILE PHOTO: Rohingya refugees who were rescued by Bangladesh Coast Guard, sit on the shore in Teknaf, subdistrict of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh April 15, 2020. Abdul Aziz/Handout via REUTERS
By:
PramodKumar
Authorities in Bangladesh have moved hundreds of Rohingya refugees living on a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal to storm shelters as super cyclone Amphan, the strongest recorded in the region, barrels down, they said on Wednesday (20).
The eastern edge of the storm headed for Bangladesh and neighbouring India is expected to batter Bhasan Char island, where 306 Rohingya, members of a persecuted minority from Myanmar, were sent this month after being rescued from boats.
“Each block has a cyclone centre and they have been moved to the centre,” said Bimal Chakma, a senior official of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission.
The United Nations has called for the refugees to be moved to the mainland to join more than a million more who live in sprawling camps outside the town of Cox’s Bazar.
Although that settlement, the world’s largest refugee camp, is expected to escape the worst of the storm, the danger level has been raised to nine from six, signifying a severe threat.
Heavy rain and high winds lashed the flimsy shelters, built on hills prone to landslides, and red flags were raised to warn refugees to stay inside.
Aid workers say the cyclone could hamper efforts to control a coronavirus outbreak in the camps, which reported their first infections last week.
“It is already a huge challenge to contain the spread of coronavirus amongst the Rohingya refugees living in over-crowded camps, sharing water and toilet facilities,” said Dipankar Datta, the country director of charity Oxfam in Bangladesh.
Water-borne and other infections were also a threat, he added in a statement.
Bangladeshis and Rohingya are among thousands of volunteers trained in emergency response measures who received life-jackets and torches.
“We are using megaphones and the mosque microphones to warn people,” said Sabbir Ahmed, a 24-year-old Rohingya volunteer.
Refugees have been told to head for madrasas and schools if the storm destroys shelters, he told Reuters by telephone, adding, “If it hits the camps there will be huge destruction.
Pakistani police hunt for killer of two teenage girls seen in kissing video
Pakistani police have launched a manhunt following the murder of two teenage girls who were seen kissing a man in a video that went viral on social media.
The girls were killed last week in the deeply conservative and war-torn northwestern area of North Waziristan in what police suspect was an act of “honour killing”.
Police say the video which they believe prompted the girls’ murder was shot a year ago but had only recently been uploaded on social media.
“The females were sisters, identified as Jasima Bibi and Saeeda Bibi,” North Waziristan police chief Shafiullah Gandapur told Reuters.
Their family had been displaced by a military operation against militants in their hometown, he said.
He said the man who was filmed kissing them in a 44-second video was arrested on Monday together with a friend who police believe uploaded the video, but police believe the murder suspect fled to Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
Police also said the girls’ father and uncle had been arrested on suspicion of concealing the murder and evidence.
The killing is the first high-profile criminal case to be pursued in the formerly autonomous tribal region, where ultra-conservative customs present a big challenge for police.
Pakistan extended police jurisdiction to the area in 2018, ending more than a century of relatively autonomous rule in a region used by Taliban and al Qaeda militants to launch attacks in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
Police said the girls’ relatives and local residents did not want a case registered because of “local traditions”, so the police became the complainant in the case.
Thousands of incidents of violence against women perceived to have “damaged” family honour are reported in Pakistan each year and many more go unreported, rights groups say. Pakistan enacted legislation to protect against “honour killings” in 2016
