Hindu Rohingyas who have fled the violence in Myanmar are reportedly being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam by Muslims of the same ethnicity in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Some 480,000 Rohingya, mostly Muslim but also Hindu, have taken shelter in Bangladeshi refugee camps in the past month, leaving aid groups scrambling for provisions to help them.
Several women are reporting that Muslim Rohingya are murdering Hindu men and taking the women as wives, forcing them to convert to Islam – or be killed.
Kidnapped: Rica Dhar, 28, left, and Puja Mullick, right, say Muslim Rohingya killed their male family members and forced them to remove their Hindu marital bangles and begin praying to Allah, saying ‘You will have to turn Muslim and marry us’
The Rohingya are a stateless ethnic group that has been living mainly in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for centuries. A majority of them are Muslim, but there is a small minority who are Hindu.
Since violence broke out in Rakhine a month ago, some 480,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, the United Nations said Tuesday.
Puja Mullick is a Hindu Rohingya who left Myanmar with her husband and family in hope of a refugee in Bangladesh.
However, along the way, she says her husband and entire family were shot in front of her and but she was left alive to live as a captive.
She says her family were not killed by the Myanmar army but by Rohingya men clad in black with their faces hidden, ‘abusing in the name of religion.
‘They took us to the forest and said I would have to read namaz [Muslim prayer] or they would release me…
‘My sindoor [red cosmetic powder worn by Hindu women in their parting or a a bindi] was removed and my religious marital bangles broken.
Crisis: Rohingya refugees scuffle as they wait to receive aid in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Fleeing: Since violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine State a month ago, some 480,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, the United Nations said Tuesday.
‘I was told I would be allowed to live only if I changed my religion. I was made to wear burqa and stay with them to learn their traditions for almost three weeks.
‘I was made to read Muslim prayer and I had to pray to Allah. My family started searching for me and came to know that I was living in a Muslim camp.’
Speaking to Mail Today at the Hindu Rohingya camp in Kotupalong area of Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, she says her red sari is the only item of clothing she owns, and that her three-year-old son has no clothes at all.
Rica Dhar, 28, narrates a similar tragic tale as she feeds her young son.
‘On Friday (August 25) they entered all the Hindu residences and attacked. First the mobile phones were taken away and then men were tied and beaten brutally. My husband worked as a goldsmith.
Many hundred thousand are now staying in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
‘They took away all my jewellery and began beating me. All Hindus were identified and taken to a nearby hill. They were then killed in a row. Only eight women were allowed to stay among them… mostly young and beautiful.
‘They were told ”You will have to turn Muslim and marry us”. We had no option but to surrender and go with them.
‘We were taken to the forest and left without food to weaken us mentally also. Then we were brought to a camp in Bangladesh.
Ms Dhar says she was only saved when some of her Hindu relatives found out about her predicament and brought her to a Hindu camp.
Ms Dhar and Ms Mullick say there were six more women who shared their fate, who were still living in the Muslim majority camp with their captors.
‘We are victims of Burma army and now we are being tortured here also. Eight women who were here from Myanmar….they were forcibly taken to another camp and were asked to convert to Islam,’ Vijay Ram Pal, a Hindu Rohingya said.
‘Thankfully, a person here in the camp came to save them,’ he said.
When asked, government officials were clueless about what was going on. ‘We do not have any such information,’ said Md. Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar.
‘If it has occurred, we will take necessary action.’
When Bangladesh’s information minister Hasanul Haq Inu was informed about the situation by MailToday, he promised action.
‘The news is very bad and astounding… we have taken all measures to put Rohingya Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist families in separate camps,’ he said.
‘We will be investigating this and we will be very tough.’