Rohingya leader killed in Ukhiya

A Rohingya leader was killed and two others injured in an intragroup clash at Kutupalang Rohingya camp in Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazar on Sunday morning, according to officials.

The deceased has been identified as Abul Kalam, 60, a resident and leader of the Kutupalong Camp-2.

The injured were Mohammad Amin and Mohammad Zafar, residents of the camp, confirmed Md Naimul Haque, commander of the Armed Police Battalion (APBN)-14.

“A clash between two influential groups broke out at around 8:30 am on Sunday. Rohingya leader Abul Kalam along with the two others, were fatally injured. Locals rushed them to a local hospital where Abul Kalam was declared dead by the on-duty doctor,” he said.

“We are investigating the incident. We already have got some lead on the suspects. Filing of a case is underway, and we are soon going to conduct drives to arrest the suspects,” he added.

Seeking anonymity, residents of the camp told The Business Post that few miscreants kidnapped the three influential leaders of the camp beforehand and brutally knifed them.

After Abul Kalam was killed, they left the body and two others injured at the camp, and fled the spot before the law enforcers could arrest them, they said.

They also claimed these three leaders have long been helping the police officers as informers, and that is why the criminals had kidnapped and tried to kill them.

Gazi Salah Uddin, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya police station, told The Business Post that they have been informed of the incident by the locals and thoroughly investigating the incident.

Rohingya activists say there is a mounting “climate of fear” in the camps, with some of them forced to go into hiding since Mohibullah’s killing. Rohingya rights activist and leader Mohibullah was killed at his office in Kutupalong camp under Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya upazila on September 30, last year.

Last December, Bangladesh, which hosts nearly a million Rohingya, relocated more than 20,000 refugees to Bhasan Char island. It plans to relocate an additional 80,000 people after signing an agreement with the United Nations to facilitate refugees on the remote island.

Bhasan Char is located 50km (31 miles) off Bangladesh’s southwestern coast and nearly 193km (120 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka, where the government has constructed 1,400 cluster houses, each made up of 16 rooms.