Group of 49 repatriated boatpeople arrive in Bangladesh
Forty-nine Rohingya boatpeople arrived in Bangladesh yesterday after a months-long ordeal that for many included being towed out to sea and cut adrift by the Thai military.
The men had been detained by Indian authorities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after being rescued by the Indian coastguard in December and January. They are the first group of Rohingya to be repatriated since the South China Morning Post revealed in January the secret abandonments at sea by Thai troops.
'We went to Port Blair to facilitate travel by the 49 men to Calcutta. From Calcutta by bus we sent them to Dhaka from where, on transportation arranged by us, they reached their villages today [Monday],' an India-based Bangladeshi diplomat dealing with the repatriation said.
Most have been sent back to villages near the fishing town of Cox's Bazar.
'If more Bangladeshis are found among those boatpeople in India or elsewhere, we shall indeed take them back. But from India we have not received any further list as yet.'
The diplomat accompanied the men from Calcutta to the Bangladeshi border.
Some 402 boatpeople remain in custody in the Andaman capital, Port Blair, after being rescued by Indian authorities. Of these, 38 have described themselves as residents of Myanmar, and the rest as residents of Bangladesh.
Those rescued by the Indian authorities include three boatloads expelled by Thai authorities and a fourth that arrived directly from Bangladeshi or Myanmese waters.
'Out of 413 Bangladeshis who were rescued from different parts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 49 were accepted and taken back by Bangladeshi authorities. Lists of all [413] have now been sent to our home ministry. We expect some more of the rescued men will be accepted by Bangladesh in the process,' Port Blair police chief V. Renganathan said.
The Rohingya hail from the border areas of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Many now based in Bangladesh allegedly fled Myanmar to escape persecution by the military junta.
