Bangladesh bans Rohingya from buying SIM cards, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Bangladesh bans Rohingya from buying SIM cards

This article is more than 12 months old

DHAKA: Bangladesh has banned telecommunication companies from selling mobile phone connections to Rohingya refugees, citing security concerns for the latest restrictions, officials said yesterday.

Bangladesh's four mobile phone providers were threatened with fines if they provide any of the nearly 430,000 newly arrived refugees from Myanmar with phone plans while the ban is in force.

"For the time being, they (Rohingya) can't buy any SIM cards," Mr Enayet Hossain, a senior officer at the telecoms ministry, told AFP yesterday.

The decision to impose a communication blackout on the stateless Muslims was justified for security reasons, said junior telecoms minister Tarana Halim.

Bangladesh already prohibits the sale of SIM cards to its own citizens who cannot provide an official identity card, in a bid to frustrate the organisational capacity of homegrown militants.

"We took the step (of welcoming the Rohingya) on humanitarian grounds but at the same time our own security should not be compromised," Ms Halim said, without elaborating on what specific risk the Rohingya posed.

Bangladesh's telecoms authority said the ban could be lifted once biometric identity cards are issued to the newly arrived refugees, a process the army says could take six months.- AFP

bangladeshRefugeesecurity