Dubai: It has been almost three decades of life in exile for Rohingya Muslim community member from Myanmar Yousuf Khan, who now calls Dubai his home.
Fearing persecution, Khan fled his village in erstwhile Akyab in Arkan, currently known as Sittwe in Rakhine state, soon after the civil unrest on August 8, 1988 known as the 8888 Uprising.
He went to Bangladesh, changed his name and secured a new Bangladeshi passport. “I didn’t want to keep my Burmese name because they will create problems for my relatives if they go for checking back home,” Khan told Gulf News on Thursday.
In March 1989, Khan, a science graduate, flew into Dubai looking for a safe and secure life. “I first worked as a salesman at a textile shop. I got married to a girl whose family also shifted here from Burma in 1980.”
Climbing the ladder in his career, Khan started his own business in 2004. The UAE proved to be a safe haven for him and his family. But they are still stateless back home and fear that their new generation will be rootless.
“I can never go back to my country. My eldest daughter is married to a Pakistani and my son now studies in London. My children will never see where I grew up. I am very much concerned about my wife’s and my relatives and neighbours back home who are now living under fear,” Khan lamented.
According to him close to 50,000 Rohingyas live in different parts of the UAE. “We feel safe and secure here. There is no racism or intolerance against any community.”
The Burma Islamic Centre in Al Ghusais is the place where many of the community members meet occasionally. Licensed by the Awqaf (General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments), the centre has around 8,000 registered members.
