9 Years Later by Abul Kalam
In August 2017, more than 740,000 Rohingya began fleeing across the border as Myanmar's military burned villages and killed civilians. Nine years later, they are still coming. An estimated 150,000 more Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh since mid-2024, escaping a new round of war and persecution in Rakhine.
Rohingya insecurity
In 2017, it was the Myanmar military that carried out the great campaign of killing and expulsion. In 2026, the Arakan Army controls most of Rakhine and stands accused of arbitrary detention, forced labour, torture, killings, restrictions on movement and the burning of Rohingya homes.
Sanctuary in Bangladesh
The people who crossed the Naf in 2017 needed somewhere safe to run, and Bangladesh gave them that space. Nine years later, more than a million people remain boxed into camps with severely limited movement, livelihoods and educational futures
Repatriation?
In 2017, Rohingya were driven from Myanmar without citizenship. Nine years later, Bangladesh still calls repatriation the only sustainable solution, while Malaysia has been discussing sending thousands back to a country where safe return plainly remains unresolved.
Regional crackdown
The Rohingya who escaped Myanmar in 2017 discovered that crossing one border did not give them the right to move freely across another. By 2026, detention, deportation, boat pushbacks and hostility in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have helped turn Rohingya mobility itself into something treated as suspect or criminal.
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The Rohingya who escaped Myanmar in 2017 discovered that crossing one border did not give them the right to move freely across another. By 2026, detention, deportation, boat pushbacks and hostility in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have helped turn Rohingya mobility itself into something treated as suspect or criminal.