Bangladesh calls off "rushed" repatriation plan of Rohingyas to Myanmar

Bangladesh on Thursday called-off its plan to repatriate hundreds of Rohingya refugees in the country after they refused to return to Myanmar where the minority Muslim community feared for their lives.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since August last year after a brutal military crackdown was launched, dubbed by the UN as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" by international rights watchdogs, sparking a global uproar.

On Thursday, Bangladesh began preparations to repatriate an initial batch of 2,000 Rohingya Muslims from 485 families to Myanmar, in line with a plan agreed with Myanmar in October.

However, several thousand Rohingya instead staged protests declining to go back to Myanmar as four trucks and three buses have been stationed at Unchiprang camp in Cox's Bazar, ready to carry refugees who have been "approved" to a transit camp by the border but not one refugee has been willing to board them, officials said.

"Nobody is willing to return to Myanmar, Rohingya repatriation will be called-off for the day if nobody volunteers by 4pm on Thursday," Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission's (RRRC) chief, Md Abul Kalam was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune.

"The buses were ready and we readied three days of rations for those who were set to return, in the first batch but none boarded on the buses," an official of the relief commissioner's office at the scene said.

The Rohingyas staged protest marches demanding realisation of a five-point demand as the precondition that included deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in the Rakhine State to ensure their safety and giving them the full citizenship status in Myanmar.

"We want our security and dignity, we don't believe them (Myanmar authorities)," a Rohingya protestors told a private TV channel.

Kalam earlier said none of the 50 families spoken to so far "expressed their willingness to go back under the present circumstances" and "We cannot force them to go back against their will."