Rohingya child rescued in Sreemangal

A Rohingya child was rescued Sunday afternoon from a residential area in Sylhet's Sreemangal upazila. The rescued is Zihadul Islam, 11, who took shelter in Shamsul Haque's house in Sreemangal's Muslimbagh area. Shamsul took the child to the Sreemangal police station on Sunday. According to Zihadul, he is a local from Maungdaw upazila in Rakhine state who came to Bangladesh eight to nine days ago with his younger brother. Zihadul's brother was injured in a landmine blast while they were on their way to Bangladesh. Zihadul's father Md Zasim Uddin and mother Shahina Akter were killed by the Myanmar army and a group of Mogh men – who also set their house on fire. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sreemangal police station KM Nazrul Islam confirmed the matter. He said Zihadul was lured into going to the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet along with 18-20 other refugees. The group, including Zihadul, got on a Sylhet-bound train – with the hope of getting shelter and food. The train was checked by police at Feni rail station, when police detained the whole group except for the child. Since Zihadul was a child, he was hardly spotted, the OC said. He also said that Zihadul began to cry when his companions were removed from the train. A Sreemangal denizen Shahid Mia came to his rescue and took him to Shamsul Haque – who took care of the child until now. Tipped off by local newsmen, police asked Shamsul to bring Zihadul to the station. Sreemangal Police Station OC KM Nazrul Islam said: "We are now in the process of sending Zihadul back to the Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar as soon as possible."