crossfire, abducted, or executed. Faced with these dire circumstances, I had no choice but to leave
my home and seek refuge in Bangladesh.”
Madulla (Name changed) was forcibly displaced from home in Maung Ni Fara village in
Maungdaw Township, when the AA launched a brutal assault on the community. He states that
they burned down their homes and executed two men in front of him. Fearing for his life and the
safety of his loved ones, he fled with his family. “Our displacement was not only the event, but
approximately 4,500 villagers from Maung Ni Fara were also displaced, and at least 1,000 are
reported to have disappeared. Within my extended family alone, 50 members have been displaced
and two are missing. Although neither I nor my immediate family faced direct violence, the
atrocities committed by the AA, including the murder of Rohingya civilians, rape of women, and
indiscriminate violence, left us with no choice but to flee.” The Arakan Army deliberately created
circumstances for the Rohingya community across Rakhine State to flee voluntarily often by
paying and taking precarious journeys from Rakhine State to other states like Yangon and
eventually to a third country. He details how he lives in Kutupalong Camp 1E, while his family is
in Balukhali camp. “I have not been able to reunite with them due to lack of money and shelter. I
think about them every day.” His sense of separation is shared by 16-year-old Amir Faisel, who
fled to Thailand with his sister, leaving behind his parents, who could not afford to escape from
Rakhine State, Myanmar. These testimonies show that leaving places or their own villages is not
an individual choice but a forced decision imposed through a series of violent incidents. For
many, this journey of fleeing their places, as reported by testimonies and also various media
outlets, takes days and weeks, often without food, shelter, or protection, or to say precisely under
life-threatening situations.
Since June 2024, there have been multiple reports of river drownings, deaths, and killings among
people fleeing conflict or undertaking dangerous journeys. Many community people, including
children, drowned while attempting to cross into Bangladesh by boat to escape violence. In such a
situation when people are killed and families or their relatives become unaware about each other,
fragmentation becomes more emotional and brings unending anxieties. Imagine a mentally and
emotionally displaced person, who for years has not been able to meet his loved ones; his level of
pain would be at a different level. Displacement, in these cases, disables relationships, severs ties
between families, isolates children from their parents, and consequently breaks kinship lines.
47
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