Most of the Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25 are women, children and the elderly.
The number of youths among the refugees is low and many of those who have made it across the border are either physically challenged or sick.
The refugees said most of the youths have been killed by the Myanmar military while many others are missing, their fates unknown.
“The army took away my husband from our home and shot him dead,” said Rabeya Khatun, a 23-year-old native of Bolibazar’s Tulatoli in Maungdaw. “I managed to escape (but) they also killed my sister Mabia Khatun’s husband, Nazrul Islam.”
The Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless community and one of the most persecuted minorities. Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya Muslims as citizens and forces them to live in squalid camps under apartheid-like conditions.
After Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base on August 25, the Myanmar army launched its latest “security operation” targeting Rohingya villages in Rakhine state.
The army and local mobs have since burned these to the ground after killing and raping the inhabitants, forcing more than 400,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh in what the UN has described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
According to The Irrawaddy news website, the Myanmar government claims around 30,000 Arakanese Buddhists, Hindus and Arakanese sub-ethnic residents have also fled the violence.
Most of the Rohingya refugees now sheltering in the Teknaf and Ukhiya districts of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh are women and children. Families have brought a large number of young children but most do not have any youth members with them.
Many women said the men in their families had either been killed or were still missing since the latest spell of violence erupted in Rakhine at the end of last month.
Hasina Khatun, from Maungdaw’s Hawrar Bil, said her husband Syed Karim, 45, was a woodcutter and was killed by the military. “We have three sons and a daughter (but) one of our sons died when coming to Bangladesh,” the 40-year-old said.
Anika Dhar, 18, said her husband had worked at a salon in Maungdaw’s Fakira Bazar.
“He was shot dead on August 27,” she said. The pregnant teenager managed to escape and found shelter at West Kutupalong Hindu camp.
Another Hindu woman, Promila Sheel, 25, said her husband had suffered a similar fate. There are at least eight women in the Hindu camp who had lost their husbands.
Mostly women were seen collecting relief materials in the refugee camps in Ukhiya’s Kutupalong, Balukhali and Palangkhali; and in Teknaf’s Hoikyang, Noyapara, Unsipray and Damdam. Many women could be seen sitting on the road.
Among the relatively few men to make it across the border, Selimullah, 45, escaped with his two daughters but only one of his six sons. Md Siddiq, 60, crossed into Bangladesh on Sunday with his wife, daughter and youngest son after his three other sons elected to stay behind.
“They are grown up (and) did not come with us. They will come later,” he said.
The Myanmar army began arresting many Rohingya youths before the crackdown for their alleged links to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Harakah al-Yaqin.
“The army picked up the youths from their homes but many managed to escape. Local Moghs nabbed some of them and handed them over to the army,” said Zafar Alam, the chairman of Maungdaw’s Morikyang area.
Zafar said at least 12 of his fellow Rohingya chairmen were also arrested.
“They include Bushidong’s Mandma Chairman Md Abu, Zeeban Khali’s Ayub, Singripara’s Md Siddiq and Hawar Bil’s Md Zakaria,” he said.This article was first published on Bangla Tribune
Thursday, June 04, 2026
