False Promises, Lost Lives

Already part of a persecuted community, Rohingya women are being trapped with promises of a better life while really being trafficked in India

- Mubashir Naik, Irshad Hussain

IN November 2023, Zubaida Begum was 24-years-old when, lured by a trafficker, she travelled to Jammu from Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Kutupalong is known as the largest refugee settlement in the world with almost one million Rohingya refugees. She was promised a luxurious life for herself and her child in Kashmir by a trafficker. Instead, she ended up in jail.

The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group from Myanmar, are denied citizenship and basic rights, making them stateless. The community, primarily living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, has endured decades of violence and repression in the predominantly Buddhist country.

In 2017, following a military campaign by Myanmar, over 750,000 Rohingya were forced to escape to southern Bangladesh. The United Nations described the Myanmar government as having “genocidal intent.” The mass exodus resulted in the establishment of the world’s largest refugee camp in the region.

Zubeda remembered the incident when her husband was killed in Myanmar, she felt helpless. Fleeing to Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh in search of safety, she clung to the hope of a better future, only to be deceived by false promises and fall into the cruel trap of traffickers. The trafficker told Zubeda that she would marry a wealthy man with good fortune in Kashmir. “I was hopeful for a better life, but everything turned upside down,” she said.