Bangladesh is racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, and top officials have given conflicting signals about whether the refugees will be stranded there.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Monday that putting Rohingya on the low-lying island would be a "temporary arrangement" to ease congestion at the camps in Cox's Bazar, refuge for nearly 700,000 who have crossed from Myanmar's Rakhine state since the end of August.
However, one of her advisers told Reuters that, once there, they would only be able to leave the island if they wanted to go back to Myanmar or were selected for asylum by a third country. "It's not a concentration camp, but there may be some restrictions. We are not giving them a Bangladeshi passport or ID card," said H.T. Imam, adding that the island would have a police encampment with 40 to 50 armed personnel.