Tuesday, March 19, 2024

In pictures | In Nuh, Refugee camp fire devastates Rohingya, again

The photographs indicate that the shanties have been gutted to such an extent that several refugee families have lost their homes in the thick of winters. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob

Around 8 pm on Wednesday, a fire broke out at a Rohingya camp in Haryana’s Nuh district, gutting over 30 shanties and displacing 102 Rohingyas.

As per Sabbir Ahmed, founder of Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, no casualties were reported and the fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit in a wire, took more than an hour to douse.

“We have lost everything. All our savings, belongings, documents are gone,” Noor Begum, whose house was among the first to be burnt down, told Maktoob.

She said that she saw her house reduce to ashes before her.

“The fire victims have lost all their belonging including their ration and documentation issued by UNHCR and the worst thing is they have lost the documents which they have saved and brought from Myanmar by giving them much more value to their lives and properties,” said Sabbir Ahmed, a Rohingya activist.

Sabbir’s group Rohingya Human Rights Initiative has requested the government agencies and UNCHR and its implementing partners to provide them a safe shelter that can be avoidable from such tragedy and to fulfill their daily basic needs.

As it is not the first time such tragedy has taken place but in June this year, the same fire incident took place in Delhi and Jammu, and Kashmir.

“We urge the Government of India to independently investigate the matter so that no such tragedy takes place in the future. As it is known to everyone that such tragedy is taking place due to the false propaganda of some media channels, we urge you to investigate those media channels that propagate false news,” Sabbir said.

An estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees, many believed to be undocumented, live in camps across Indian cities, including Jammu, Hyderabad and Nuh.

The fire comes amid an Indian government crackdown on Rohingya refugees living in the country.

Narendra Modi government had said it will deport the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in contravention of the principle of non-refoulement, which forbids a country from returning refugees to a country where they would face torture.

Around 8 pm on Wednesday, a fire broke out at a Rohingya camp in Haryana’s Nuh district, gutting over 30 shanties and displacing 102 Rohingyas. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees, many believed to be undocumented, live in camps across Indian cities, including Jammu, Hyderabad and Nuh. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
As it is not the first time such fire tragedy has taken place in Rohingya camps but in June this year, the same fire incident took place in Delhi and Jammu, and Kashmir. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
As per Sabbir Ahmed, founder of Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, no casualties were reported and the fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit in a wire, took more than an hour to douse. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
The fire comes amid an Indian government crackdown on Rohingya refugees living in the country. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
The survivors are requesting essentials including warm clothing, utensils, gas cylinder. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
“The fire victims have lost all their belonging including their ration and documentation issued by UNHCR and the worst thing is they have lost the documents which they have saved and brought from Myanmar by giving them much more value to their lives and properties,” said Sabbir Ahmed, a Rohingya activist. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
The Rohingya are an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. The more than one million Rohingya Muslims are described as the ‘world’s most persecuted minority’. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees, many believed to be undocumented, live in camps across Indian cities, including Jammu, Hyderabad and Nuh. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
Around 102 people who were residing for years were forced to displace. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
The fire broke out at around 7:45 pm, following which the authorities were informed immediately, and three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The menace was controlled in two hours, but the shanties were engulfed by the time they reached. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
According to the officials, 1,695 Rohingya refugees (around 500 families) have been living in 10 refugee camps in Nuh since 2012. These camps are situated in Shahpur Nangli, Ferozepur Namak, Chandeni, Saddik Nagar and Punhana. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
The Rohingya crisis came to the world’s attention after some 700,000 of them fled an army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017. However, a large number of the mainly-Muslim ethnic minority had been seeking refuge in neighbouring countries before that. Photo: Meer Faisal/Maktoob
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