The Disowned & The Denied

The project is about documenting the lives of the Muslim ethnic minority, generally known as the Rohingyas, who live in northern Rakhine State, western Burma. Considered to be one of the most persecuted communities in the world the Rohingyas face every kinds of human rights violation-denial of citizenship, restriction of movement or travel, restriction on education, forced labor, land confiscation, forced eviction, destruction of homes, schools, mosques, religious persecution, ethnic discrimination, restrictions on marriage of Rohingyas, abuse of Rohingya women and elders, rape as a weapon of war, depopulation of Rohingya community, confiscation of residency/citizenship card. To many what is happening to this community in Burma is nothing but a slow burning genocide.

I have started the project in 2009 and I am working in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia and in India. I am hoping to expand the project to Middle east and to Australia.

After the June violence in 2012 , a large number of refugees started to come to Bangladesh. In the mid June 137 of them were caught by the Border Guards of Bangladesh as they were trying to get in to Bangladesh during the Dark Nights. In the next morning, they were pushed back to the sea, using these broken boats. 132 of them died within hours of the push back on the sea as their boats were sunked.

The registered refugee camp in Noa Para, Cox’s Bazar.

‘My home is not far from here, you just cross the river Naaf and there is my home by the riverside. From here it is just two miles, but for me it is like a two million mile, which I will never be able to cross”- My Rohingya guide, Abul Kalam pointed towards the other side of the river when we were coming back home after a long day of work.

The Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaaf, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Tayeba Begum lived in the UN registered camp .She wanted to save her daughter from the perverted stepfather. He tried to rape the twelve-year-old Shahara Khatun several times. Failing to do so, Abul Khaher took revenge. He stabbed Tayeba seven times. Few days after this photograph was taken, Tayeba died in a hospital in Dhaka.

Rafique came to Cox’s Bazar from Myanmar many years ago. In the year of 2004, UNHCR decided to provide new bamboos to the refugees to help them repair their shelter homes. When Rafique went to camp office to collect his bamboos, a local muscleman Baktiar intervened and ordered him not to take his share as he was planning to sale them illegally to the local market. Rafique had a heated argument with Baktiar in public. That night the local police took Rafiq into custody. Using his money power and influence, Baktiar ensured that Rafique was taken to a deep forest in the mountains by the police and shot in his leg.

Police open fired on the Rohingyas in the Kutpalang camp in 2004 who were demanding for their rights, Hasina Begum was just 11 years old then. And she found herself in the middle of the crossfire. She was shot in the back. In 2007 a Bengali who used to live in the nearby village raped her. Then she was sold to a Bangladeshi man named Jane Alam by a woman named Anowara Begum for 800 Taka (10$). Three Bangladeshi men raped her again.After that she came back to the camp. But life remained never the same anymore. Her family rejected her and eventually she decided to be a sex worker. Now she works as a sex worker.

There are quite a number of Madrashas inside the camp. In these religious schools young boys go to learn the Holy Quran.

After collecting woods from the nearby hill, a Rohingya refugee takes the way back to the camp.

The unregistered refugees are not allowed to work officially. But they work, because they have to. But the employers take this opportunity to exploit them- a Rohingya man will always be paid less than the Bangladeshi worker; sometimes they are paid even half of the amount.

Many children are born and bought up in the camp. But they are born as citizens of nowhere! They are neither Bangladeshi nor Burmese. But when someone asks them about their life in the camp, they would answer, “The camp is my home. This is where I belong and I love this place. I do not know why the older people complain, I do not find any problems here”.

When it rains in the unregistered camps, the walkways become little rivers. And when it rains too much, then there is a risk of landslide. But the Rohingyas do not have any other place to go.

The ground water level is a big problem in and around the Nayapara camp. As a result water supply is quite irregular in the camp. A man digging a well to get some fresh water –he has to dig deep. Due to lack of natural water sources in this camp, water is distributed through open taps in this camp two times a day, early in the morning and late afternoon. The Government of Bangladesh has agreed to allow for excavation of a water reservoir.

Rahmatullah decided to take the dangerous route to Malaysia, allowing himself to be trafficked. His wife was 8 months’ pregnant when he left. Rahmatullah knew his chances of making it to Malaysia were slim. It was on the night when Rahmatullah started his journey that this photograph was taken. It was in May, 2014. He never made it to Malaysia and disappeared in the sea.

Ali Mia suffered from an ‘unknown’ disease. When he went to the hospital the doctor simply said, “we do not have any treatment for you. But if you can go to London then they might help you.” Ali Mia came back to the camp and waited to die. He had no medical assistance or medicine for months. Within twenty-four hours after the image was taken, Ali Mia died.

The unregistered refugees are not allowed to work officially. But they work, because they have to. But the employers take this opportunity to exploit them- a Rohingya man will always be paid less than the Bangladeshi worker; sometimes they are paid even half of the amount. The fishing industry is said to have flourished immensely since the Rohingyas took the profession. They are willing to travel to the deep sea during the worst weather conditions. Previously which was less than 7-8 months long season a year, now they go for fishing almost year around.

Shamlapur is the home of many Rohingyas for many years. It was isolated for many years from the mainland due to lack of road communications. Which helped the Rohingyas to settle here and work as fisherman. Now there are more than hundred thousand Rohingyas living in Shamlapur.

A Rohingya worker in an ice factory in Cox’s Bazar; the tensions between the Bangladeshis and the Rohingyas are growing. Bangladeshis would always complain that Rohingyas are ‘stealing’ their job.

Shamlapur is the home of many Rohingyas for many years. It was isolated for many years from the mainland due to lack of road communications. Which helped the Rohingyas to settle here and work as fisherman. Now there are more than hundred thousand Rohingyas living in Shamlapur.

Shower From a five year old to Ninety year old, from girls to boys, man and woman everyone takes bath in the public bath in the unregistered camps.

It is almost 40 degrees outside –the usual summer temperature in Bangladesh. Not much to do for the young lads of the camp –playing cards to pass the time.

Just a week before this photograph was taken which is late 2014, Saydul Islam came to Malaysia by boat. He still has nightmares and still finds it difficult to live a normal life after the treacherous journey he took. It took them almost a month to complete the Journey from Burma to Malaysia. He had to spend a week in Bangladesh before he got onto the boat that took him to Thailand and he stayed for days in the camp before he finally managed to get into Malaysia.

Rozia Begum, a 10 old playing with the window curtain. She was born in Malaysia as a stateless person.

Sheikh Mohammad came to Malaysia a year ago. And took a job in the tire recycling factory. In July 2012 he had an accident in the factory, 60% of his body had 3rd degree burn. Neither he was given any money for his treatment nor as compensation. The photograph was taken after a month of the accident.

Hossian Mia suffers from back pain and when the pain becomes to much he kind of loses his mind. He once had a car accident in Malaysia and never had enough money to have proper medical treatment. Rohingyas who does not have proper documents are not allowed to have any medical assistance in the hospitals in Malaysia.

Anwar, a registered Rohingya lighting his smoke on top his apartment. The photograph was taken in the late 2014; he was resettled in the USA in March through a legal resettlement program.

It has been many decades that Rohingyas are a stateless community, be it Burma be it in Malaysia, they are not considered to be legal citizens of the country. As result, the children that are born in Malaysia are born as children of ‘nowhere’!

Rohingyas tends to work in jobs that the local population does not take, known as the 3D job- dirty, dangerous and difficult. Some employers exploit their dire situation by paying extremely low or no wages at all-a Rohingya worker working in a construction site.

Rohingyas tends to work in jobs that the local population does not take, known as the 3D job- dirty, dangerous and difficult. Some employers exploit their dire situation by paying extremely low or no wages at all. A Rohingya worker working in the jungle and trying to clear the place for future construction.

Rohingyas tends to work in jobs that the local population does not take, known as the 3D job- dirty, dangerous and difficult. Some employers exploit their dire situation by paying extremely low or no wages at all-a Rohingya worker working in a construction site.

Rohingyas tends to work in jobs that the local population does not take, known as the 3D job- dirty, dangerous and difficult. Some employers exploit their dire situation by paying extremely low or no wages at all-a Rohingya worker working in a wholesale market. A Rohingya refugee takes shower after a long day of work.

The city center of Bradford, every evening Rohingyas come here to have relaxed time, to chat and to socialize.

For the Rohingyas life in Bradford, UK is very different from their horrible life back in Burma or from the life in the camps in Bangladesh. It is a life full of new hopes, possibilities, happiness and joy.

For a Rohingya child, Bradford is a wonderland! It is more a dream than a reality when they compare their lives with the lives they had in the camps. These are the luckiest children among those hundreds and thousands living inside and outside the camps in Bangladesh. It is like winning a lottery for the Rohingyas to get the opportunity to get resettled in the west.

Rakibul used to learn Karate when he was in the camp. He still practices in Bradford.

‘You have been to the camps, don’t you? And you have seen our kitchen! Now we have this. Whenever I think of all these, I thank Allah for the life I have now”. Aiub – a resettled Rohingya in Bradford.

Rahima Khatun is a widow. When she came to Bradford, she and her daughter both were severely sick. They were treated in Bradford and now having a healthy life. If they had stayed in the camps surely they would have died for lack of treatment.

Fahad was born in Bradford on the 10th of August 2009. And by birth he is a British Citizen. He is the first Rohingya child in history to be born having a foreign nationality. His father is very proud of him and says ‘ I do not have a nationality, but my son has. Nobody in the world could treat him the way I was treated simply for being a Rohingya from Burma.’

The first marriage between a Rohingya woman and a Bangladeshi man in Bradford- the husband is said to be an illegal worker. By getting married to the woman, he is confirmed to have a legal status. And the Rohingya community is very skeptical about the marriage, they deeply fear that once the husband gets his legal status he would leave the wife and get married to a more beautiful Bangladeshi girl. The husband has paid all the cost of the marriage, which is again just the opposite of what usually happens in a Muslim marriage. Moreover it is said that he has provided fat cash to the family of the bride. Taslima, the bride is an orphan and his uncle raised her.