August 2017 a dark chapter in the history of the Rohingya where nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed, some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar army and police, more than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, over 114,000 others were beaten, 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, according to a report by Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA). Many say this is a conservative estimate and the actual casualties were many folds.
Amidst those fleeing Rohingyas was Sayedul Islam and his family, a native of Rathedaung currently residing the Rohingya Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar. He has four daughters and two sons. It’s been three years they have been living in the makeshift camp. Sitting inside a bamboo tarpaulin, Sayedul recalls, ” I was shot by Burma (Myanmar) military when I and my whole family were fleeing Bangladesh. The military fired randomly to anyone or everyone they could hit.”
He added, “I have shown many doctors in the camp for the treatment of my injury which has become infectious and because of the injury a bag has been attached to urinate. I know some other refugees who are also suffering from the Myanmar military attacks. I wished if a group of a medical expert team would visit us, for complicated health issues like mine.”
According to a survey conducted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) between October 2017 and July 2018 found that the major causes of disabilities among Rohingya wounded in 2017 Myanmar attacks was neurological injury due to gunshot wounds. The vast majority of Rohingyas who were disabled were gunned down. Many of the bullet wounds have resulted in permanent neurological impairment that limits limb function and causes severe and persistent pain: both can make simple tasks like walking, grasping a pot, or lifting a bag of ice extremely painful or impossible.
The PHR statistic also shows that about 21% survivors suffered shrapnel wounds from grenades or were injured by landmines laid in fields surrounding Rohingya villages in an apparently deliberate strategy to inflict maximum harm on Rohingya fleeing attack. Some Rohingya survivors who were unable to flee were reportedly seized by Myanmar security forces and brutally beaten, kicked, stabbed, raped, and killed.
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