Rohingyas in Bangladesh seek global support during Guterres visit
Kutupalong, July 2: Hundreds of Rohingyas on Monday called for support from the international community during a visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to refugee camps in Bangladesh, which host more than 915,000 members of the Muslim minority who have fled Myanmar.
Mud and heavy monsoon rains did not prevent hundreds of Rohingyas from leaving their huts with banners and chanting slogans as Guterres, who is on a two-day official visit to Bangladesh, visited the camps, Efe news reported.
"We want to return to Myanmar as dignified citizens, with security and our all rights," Amir Ahmed, one of the demonstrators in the massive Kutupalong camp, told the news agency.
The camps in Bangladesh host some 915,000 Rohingyas, including around 700,000 who have sought refuge in the country since August 25, 2017 when the Myanmar military launched an offensive in retaliation to an attack on multiple government outposts by Rohingya rebels in the western state of Rakhine.
A Rohingya representative in Kutupalong, Mohammad Mohibulla, said they had 13 demands to deliver to Guterres, who was accompanied by World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
Mohibulla, who is chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, said their requests included the need for those who committed "genocide" against members of their community in Myanmar to be tried and for compensation for human and material losses.
"We want the UN to deploy troops in an uninterrupted manner in Arakan (Rakhine), we want full citizenship under the name of ethnic Rohingya," instead of identity cards announced by Myanmar in which they would be recognized only as "Bengali", he said.
Myanmar authorities do not recognize the Rohingyas as a distinct ethnic group and instead consider them illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and deny them citizenship and other basic rights.
International pressure led Myanmar and Bangladesh to ink a deal on November 23 to repatriate the Rohingya refugees starting from January 23. However, seven months later, the formal repatriation process is yet to begin.
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574 players for IPL auctions: 366 Indians, Pant, Iyer in top bracket, 13-year-old Vaibhav youngest
New Delhi, Nov 15: Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Arshdeep Singh will headline a 574-strong list of players with top base price of Rs 2 crore at the upcoming Indian Premier League auction scheduled in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on November 24 and 25.
Thirteen-year-old India U-19 cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar is the youngest among the lot at Rs 30 lakh base price.
The BCCI on Friday pruned the initial list of 1574 players down to 574 out of which 366 are Indians and 208 from overseas. All the current India players are in top base price bracket.
Apart from Pant, set to be the costliest buy at the auction with a team like Punjab Kings aiming to go the distance with Rs 110.50 crore in its kitty, the other big names include IPL winning captain Shreyas Iyer, India's most prolific T20I bowler Arshdeep Singh, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan.
There are 81 players in the top bracket while 27 are in Rs 1.5 crore category. There are 18 in the Rs 1.25 crore category while 23 have priced themselves at Rs 1 crore.
Jos Buttler of England also enjoys the top base price bracket of Rs 2 crore along with countrymen Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow while the retired James Anderson, at Rs 1.25 crore base price, has made it to the curtailed list despite T20 not being his strongest format.
The biggest names in the top bracket from overseas are Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje from South Africa, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc from Australia. Marco Jansen and Rachin Ravindra are priced at Rs 1.25 crore.
There are 48 capped Indians while 193 are capped overseas players.
Former India U-19 World Cup winning skipper Unmukt Chand, who has migrated to the United States, has made the cut as Associate member nation player while seamer Saurabh Nethravalkar, who was a revelation during T20 World Cup, wasn't shortlisted.
Italy's Thomas Draca, who plays for MI Emirates, also didn't make the cut.
