"We want to start relocation by early next month," Mahbub Alam Talukder, the Relief and Repatriation Commission chief based in Cox’s Bazar, told Reuters, adding that "the refugees will be shifted in phases". Some human rights groups have expressed concern over that plan because the island is remote and prone to devastation from cyclones. Many refugees oppose the move, which some human rights experts fear could spark a new crisis. Densely populated Bangladesh has been grappling with large refugee numbers, with local communities turning hostile towards Rohingya after a second failed bid to send thousands back to Myanmar in August. A UN human rights investigator who visited in January said she feared a new crisis if Rohingya were taken to the island.

Source: bd News24 October 20, 2019 12:45 UTC