Rohingya man whose mother was abducted calls for refugee pathway to Canada

John Jonaid never got the chance to see his family before he fled his home country in 2012.

He's not sure if he ever will again.

"I live in a constant fear and anxiety every day that anything could happen to my family [at] any time," he said.

Jonaid, originally from the Rakhine state of Myanmar, is a Muslim Rohingya — a member of an ethnic minority group in the Buddhist-majority country that has been left stateless there since 1982. He's one of close to a million Rohingya who fled their homes in Myanmar after decades of persecution and murder. Many have poured into highly congested and squalid refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh since a military-led crackdown in 2017.

Jonaid left Myanmar for Canada five years ago. He is now a permanent resident living in Ottawa, watching events in his homeland with a growing sense of alarm.

"I dream for a better future, like everyone else," he said.

In recent days, Myanmar's military has withdrawn from Jonaid's home state and the rebel Arakan Army (AA), made of Rakhine nationalists, has advanced. There are reports of hundreds of Rohingya civilians being killed and homes being burned, Jonaid said.

Rohingya people in Myanmar face death every day, he said — including his family members.

In June of this year, Jonaid said, members of the AA visited his mother's home in the middle of the night and abducted her.

He said the AA told his mother they were aware of her son's public statements about the Rohingya genocide and the insurgent group's actions in the region.

"I couldn't sleep that night," Jonaid recalled.

He said his father was able to negotiate her release a day later for a $3,000 ransom and a promise that Jonaid would keep silent.

"I should have stopped my [advocacy] work, my activities, otherwise my family life will be in danger," he said.

While his mother is no longer in captivity, Jonaid said, she is far from safety in Myanmar.