Bangladesh currently hosts over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees who were subjected to mass genocide in their home country. However, five years after the exodus, we seem to be no closer to ensuring their safe repatriation.
It is a shame that the international community and human rights agencies have failed to hold the Myanmar military regime accountable for the atrocities they committed, and put the necessary pressure on them to take back their citizens.
It is because of this lack of substantial effort on the world's part that the Rohingya community continues to suffer, subsequently causing unrest in our country too.
What was meant to be a temporary solution for our neighbours in distress is proving to be a hazard for us.
As laudable as Bangladesh's efforts have been to create a secure environment for the refugees, it is undeniably proving to be a bigger burden to bear for a developing nation to cater to their needs in the best way possible.
A lack of proper education and health care facilities, teamed up with the longing to return to their homelands, has caused tensions to run high within the Rohingya community -- and, consequently, the crime rate has also escalated to extreme heights. Ranging from murders to rapes to abductions, miscreants in the camps continue to create a dangerous environment for their own people, as well as ours.
Things are already getting out of hand; if the international community does not respond immediately to the crisis at hand, and take initiatives to ensure a secure return for the Rohingya to their country, it may become impossible to avert a major catastrophe.