Late last Wednesday, police recovered the throat-slit body of 25-year-old Kulsuma Akter from the washroom of Room 302 at Strand Park Resort near Cox’s Bazar’s central bus terminal. Her two-and-a-half-year-old child was crying beside the body. According to hotel authorities, a man posing as her husband rented the room and later fled. Police say he was not her actual husband.
The victim’s identity remains unclear. Some sources describe her as a resident of Eidgaon upazila, while police initially suspected she lived in a Rohingya camp in Ukhiya. Her true identity and the circumstances surrounding the killing have yet to be confirmed. The fact that someone could rent a hotel room under a false identity, and that the alleged killer could escape, exposes serious weaknesses in the security of the tourist city’s commercial accommodation sector.
Crimes linked to Rohingya camps also remain a cause for concern for law and order. According to the National Taskforce, more than a thousand Rohingya have been accused in numerous cases, including murder and narcotics-related offences. Responsibility lies with the individuals involved, but the situation also raises questions about the effectiveness of identity verification and surveillance. This is contributing to growing security concerns among local communities and fears of social unrest, straining relations between host communities and camp residents.
Reassessing the effectiveness of camp movement permits is urgent, as is whether a central system tracks those moving outside camps. Digital movement permits, reliable biometric camp IDs, and lawful NID verification are needed. Meanwhile, a large portion of Cox’s Bazar’s nearly 500 hotels remains outside the district administration’s registration framework. Although rooms are not supposed to be rented without NID verification, the requirement is not enforced everywhere. One-stop licensing and inspection, CCTV, guest records, and identity verification should be mandatory.
If distrust over security persists, tourists may lose interest, affecting the tourism economy. Responsibility must be clearly established—whether the failure lies with possible negligence by hotel authorities, gaps in licensing oversight, or weaknesses in government verification systems. The Home Ministry, district administration, and hotel owners’ association must take coordinated, realistic, and accountable action.
By Salam Abu
Editor
