As the meetings between a high-level delegation of the Myanmar government and leaders of the Rohingya communities were going on amidst tight security on Saturday and Sunday, refugees were kept away from the venue for obvious reasons.
But, braving an occasional drizzle, many of them from their temporary shelters on the hillocks looked down at the meeting venue, the office of the camp-in-charge of extension 4 of Kutupalong Rohingya camp in the Ukhiya upazila of Cox's Bazar.
After the departure of the Myanmar delegation, led by Permanent Secretary of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry Myint Thu, a few ordinary Rohingyas came to the venue to know if the meetings did change the situation in their favour.
Many expressed frustration after knowing that there was no breakthrough in the talks while some of them were little bit positive to know that the government of Myanmar has agreed to continue dialogue with the representatives of about 10 lakh (one million) Rohingyas, who had to cross into Cox's Bazar to escape the unprecedented atrocities orchestrated by the security forces and local Buddhist mobs.
Dhaka Tribune spoke to few Rohingyas aged between 12 and 74 on on the meeting days to learn whether the ordinary people are bothered about agenda and modalities of the dialogue or any technicalities.
Some even do not know what the meetings were about.
They just want to return to their homes in Rakhine to live like other citizens of Myanmar.
"I'm 74. I want nothing more than returning to my home in Rakhine where I can spend the last days of my life," Mohammed Yasin told this correspondent in a gloomy voice.
"I hope Allah will fulfil my desire," he said in his own language which was translated by a Bangladeshi.
"I don't understand what is there to talk about. We have been living in Myanmar for generations. That is our country. We should be allowed to go back to our homes without any delay," said Rokeya Begum, a woman apparently in mid thirties.
"Every day, I remember my home in Rakhine", she said.
"I just want to go home. I don't like to live here. I've nothing to do here," said 25 year old Mohammad Ibrahim.
"I wake up in the morning and have my breakfast. After that, I attend Madrasa for three hours. I've nothing to do for the rest of the day," Sharif Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy, said in a very low voice.
"I remember those days when I used to play with my friends."
"I don't know where my friends are. I want to go back to my home in Rakhine to play with my friends again," he added.
