Eid prayers will be offered at small makeshift mosques within the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar.
Around two thousand Rohingya will attend Eid prayers in Ukhia and Teknaf. Several jamaats will be offered to give chance of prayers to all.
However, if there’s rain, the suffering will increase, feared Rohingya leaders.
One Rohingya leader, Lalu Majhi, says: “Since the block mosques are small, attending prayers will become troublesome; each batch will accommodate 100 to 150 people.”
Nurul Islam, a resident of C-8 block says: “There are two thousand in my block and we have only two mosques, therefore, prayers will be offered in three batches.”
All leaders were unanimous in underlining that if there is rainfall, roads will become muddy and unusable.
Mokhtar Ahmed, of block 6 in Kutupalong camp says: “Despite some hardship, we are happy; compared to the persecution in Rakhine, we are living in peace here.”
General secretary of Kutupalong camps, Noor Mohammad, says: “We have not seen any effort either from the government or the development bodies in arranging prayers for Eid.”
Ukhia UNO, Md Nikaruzzaman, says: “In the camps of Ukhia and Teknaf, there are about 11 to 12 lakh people; in Ukhia camps there are 1020 mosques and 540 religious teaching schools.”
“Prayers will be offered there; if we don’t have rain then everything will proceed smoothly”, he said.
Meanwhile, Teknaf UNO, says: “In the registered camps, there are more than 150 mosques and 20 religious schools.”
“Since the number of Rohingyas here is lower than other camps, there won’t be any major headache in arranging Eid prayers.”
Following an Aug 24 crackdown by Myanmar military in Rakhine, around seven lakh Rohingya fled to Bangladesh; there were already four lakh living in Bangladesh before last year’s mass exodus.
All of them now reside in Ukhia and Teknaf camps.