Rohingya Khobor Op-Ed | July 28, 2025
For the Rohingya in Arakan, there are no more good choices. Only the desperate ones remain.
Over the past month, stories have trickled out from the other side of the Naf River—stories that point to a worsening storm. But this is not new. It is the latest chapter in a long, bitter saga of displacement, betrayal, and erasure. Once again, Rohingya families are being forced out of the burning remnants of their homeland—not only by the boots of the Myanmar military, but now by the very rebel force many once hoped would offer them protection. The Arakan Army (AA), once viewed with cautious optimism by some, has turned into yet another tormentor.
And so, they flee.
The New Masters of Arakan
Today, nearly 80 percent of Rakhine State is under the control of the Arakan Army. That includes almost all the border areas along Bangladesh. What was once a fluid and fragile frontier has now become a hardened line, shaped not only by geopolitics but by fear, extortion, and the murmur of gunfire.
According to a recent report by Desh Rupantor, at least 17 Rohingya families were sent toward Bangladesh after paying ransom to the AA. Yes—“sent.” Not “fled,” not “escaped.” They were effectively pushed out, treated as burdens to be disposed of across the river. In some cases, community members allege, AA fighters are extorting money from Rohingya just to let them work on their own farmland, only to later detain or deport them.
These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of something deeper—an evolving campaign of ethnic cleansing with new actors, but the same victims.
No Way Back, No Clear Way Forward
For most Rohingya now arriving in Cox’s Bazar, home is not just behind them—it’s vanished. Burnt homes, closed mosques, shuttered clinics, and the stifling silence of the international community fill the vacuum.
In Maungdaw, where many of the new arrivals once lived, there are reports of widespread unemployment, blocked aid routes, and targeted abuse. Healthcare is virtually non-existent. Rohingya are being conscripted for forced labor. Some are reportedly used as porters and human shields. Others simply disappear. The only option left is to leave—by land, by sea, or by paying a smuggler a sum that would take a lifetime to earn.
And yet, they continue to arrive. In the past 18 months alone, according to Prothom Alo, some 150,000 new Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh. Other estimates suggest another 65,000 arrived between November 2023 and December 2024. Each number carries a name, a family, a story. A wound.
A Ticking Bomb on This Side of the Border
Bangladesh has kept its borders under tight watch. Border Guards and the Coast Guard have intensified patrols. But the reality is: you cannot patrol the sea. You cannot guard a river from grief. Boats keep arriving. Smugglers keep operating.
According to BanglaNews24, human trafficking networks are flourishing—demanding as much as 500,000 kyats (around 20,000 Bangladeshi taka) from desperate Rohingya just to cross into safety. Some pay with their last savings. Others sell the little they have left. And many never make it at all.
At the same time, Bangladesh is already straining. With over 1.3 million Rohingya inside its borders, and tens of thousands of children being born each year in the camps, the humanitarian space is shrinking. Global attention is drifting elsewhere. Donor fatigue is real. Food rations have been cut. Access to quality education and healthcare is a dream slipping further from reach.
What do you do when your house is on fire—and the neighbors just close their windows?
Where Is the World?
Once, the world looked. In 2017, when the genocide began in full force, global powers issued statements. Aid arrived. Cameras rolled. Hashtags trended.
But that time has passed. Today, Myanmar’s military is no longer the sole villain in the Rohingya story. The Arakan Army, increasingly recognized by some as a “resistance force,” is being normalized in international discourse, despite credible reports of abuse against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya.
Many international actors seem unsure how to respond. ASEAN remains largely silent. India is quietly hostile. China is strategically disengaged. And the West? Cautiously neutral—too afraid to pick a side, too content to let the region police itself. Meanwhile, according to Jamuna TV, registered Rohingya refugees are now fleeing not only from Myanmar, but from India as well, where crackdowns and deportation threats are mounting.
Neutrality, in this case, is not a virtue. It is complicity in slow motion.
A Call for Urgency—Before It’s Too Late
The situation demands far more than humanitarian sympathy. Bangladesh cannot carry this burden alone. The solution cannot be just border patrols or occasional high-level meetings. This is not just a refugee issue. It is a political, ethnic, and moral crisis.
International agencies must re-engage—urgently and consistently. The United Nations must publicly recognize and address the Arakan Army’s role in the current abuses. Diplomatic pressure must extend beyond Myanmar’s junta to include all actors violating human rights. And most critically, donor governments must restore and increase humanitarian aid before the camps implode from within.
What is happening now is not a new wave of migration. It is the continuation of a genocide by other means. A quieter, subtler genocide—one that pushes people not with flames but with hunger, humiliation, and the knowledge that no one is coming to save them.
