The interim government has decided to provide mobile phone SIM cards to Rohingya refugees. This decision was taken by the government after monitoring their activities and considering the need of the hour. Rohingyas living in the camps now have 500,000 illegal SIM cards.
Nearly 1.3 million Rohingya have taken refuge in various camps in Cox's Bazar over the past 9 years, fleeing the genocide and torture by the Myanmar junta government in Rakhine. Almost all of these Rohingya have multiple illegal SIM cards from different mobile operators in Bangladesh. There is usually no rule to give mobile SIMs to anyone without a national identity card. But how do millions of Rohingyas use mobile SIMs in Bangladesh? Since these SIMs are illegal, the government is not getting much information about the Rohingyas.Therefore, it has been decided to provide them with valid BTCL SIMs.
Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus will go to Cox's Bazar to attend a program on Rohingya issues on August 25. Before that, 10,000 Rohingyas will be given BTCL mobile SIMs. The government will gradually provide Bangladeshi SIM cards to all interested Rohingyas. Sources told the newspaper that millions of illegal mobile SIMs are being used in the Rohingya camps. Since it is not possible to prevent this, it has been decided to provide them with BTCL SIMs through legal means.
Since the Rohingya do not have national identity cards, Bangladeshi SIM cards will be issued using the Rohingya's registration number with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Sources said that the government has decided to provide mobile SIM cards to the Rohingyas considering two factors. On the one hand, it will stop the use of illegal SIM cards among the Rohingyas and it will be possible to identify the various activities of SIM card users.Many of the Rohingya have relatives living abroad. They often send remittances via mobile phones. This will be of some benefit to the Rohingya who have taken refuge in Bangladesh.
Diplomatic sources said that the decision was jointly taken by Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry, Home Ministry, BTCL, Computer Council and UNHCR. UNHCR will provide the necessary information and data to the Rohingyas to obtain SIM cards. In addition, UNHCR will hand over all the information and data of the Rohingyas who will be given mobile SIM cards to the Bangladesh government.
The source also said that the UNHCR has not yet handed over any information and data about the Rohingyas who came to Bangladesh from Myanmar, which has been registered. The UNHCR has been asked to hand over all the information it has on the Rohingya to the Bangladesh government. The UNHCR has sought time to hand over all the information on all registered Rohingya to Bangladesh within the next four months. Meanwhile, sources in the Rohingya camps said that about half a million Rohingyas in the Teknaf and Ukhiya camps in Cox's Bazar use Bangladeshi mobile SIMs. All of these SIMs are illegal. Rohingyas buy a mobile SIM from local Bangladeshis for around TK 2-3 thousand. Sometimes, SIM sellers of various mobile operators register multiple SIMs using a Bangladeshi identity card without the customer's knowledge. After giving the customer one SIM, they sell the remaining SIMs to the Rohingyas at a high price. In addition, about 100,000 Rohingyas work as fishermen in Ukhia and Teknaf. The fishing trawler owners then hand over mobile SIM cards to the Rohingyas employed in their work. These SIM cards are also used for various criminal activities in the area, including in the Rohingya camps.
These mobile SIMs are used especially in cases of drug dealing, human trafficking, extortion, and murder. Sources also said that mobile operator 'Robi' SIMs are most commonly used in Rohingya camps in Teknaf and Ukhia for network convenience. Apart from this, the Rohingya also use Grameen, Banglalink, and Airtel SIMs. Each person also has multiple illegal SIMs in their hands.
The junta government of Myanmar committed mass genocide and torture in the Rakhine state of that country, forcing about 1.1 million Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh In 2017. After taking refuge in Bangladesh, about 35,000 more children are being born in the camps every year. The persecution of the Rohingyas there has not stopped yet. Hundreds of Rohingyas are entering Bangladesh every day. In the last one and a half years, another 120,000 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh. There are still hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people in Rakhine. Persecution continues to push them towards Bangladesh. Members of the Arakan Army, which took control of Rakhine for a year after the Myanmar junta, are also torturing the Rohingya and using intimidation to push them towards Bangladesh. They want to send all the Rohingya to Bangladesh.
