A/HRC/31/18/Add.2 although largely overlapping, are not identical. For instance, some of the Buddhists or Christians living in the region have a Bengali background, while the majority of the followers of those two religions are indigenous. C. Regional dynamics 21. In many discussions, the Special Rapporteur sensed a peculiar tendency to associate people from other religious backgrounds with the countries that neighbour Bangladesh. In the case of the Hindus, the association with India seems almost natural and is indeed not only externally ascribed, but also shared by the community itself. Many Hindus maintain strong ties with family members living in India, and migrating from Bangladesh to India has always been an option — possibly also the last resort in emergency situations when Hindu people lost their property, jobs or trust in politics. 22. Certain currents within the Muslim majority are sometimes associated with Pakistan, for example, by being ascribed a “Pakistani mindset”. The Special Rapporteur also heard Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts being associated with Myanmar, where Buddhists constitute the majority religion. Reportedly, there have been isolated incidents in which militant Muslims called upon the Buddhists to leave the country and settle in Myanmar. Fortunately, such ideas do not find an echo in the larger society. It also happens that Christians are perceived as having close links with the West. 23. This tendency of associating the various religious communities with foreign countries does not currently pose a major threat to the integrity of the nation and apparently does not undermine the generally peaceful climate of interreligious coexistence. However, depending on the development within the region, risky situations may occur. Tensions arising in foreign relations could have negative spillover effects also on the way religious communities interact in Bangladesh. 24. In the context of such debates, the Special Rapporteur also heard much about the increasing influence of Middle-Eastern countries. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in a country traditionally characterized by interreligious tolerance is often attributed to the growing influence of ultraconservative interpretations of Islam stemming from the Gulf region. Deplorably, the Special Rapporteur received information about a series of targeted attacks on religious minorities in recent weeks, responsibility for which was claimed by violent Islamists after his visits. 25. One sensitive issue relates to the Rohingyas, many of whom have fled serious persecution in Myanmar. The Government of Bangladesh has not legally acknowledged many Rohingyas in the country and plans to relocate existing Rohingya refugees to a southern island to further isolate them from the tourist area of Cox’s Bazar. The general perception seems to be that the Rohingyas mostly entertain a rather conservative understanding of Islam, which raises suspicion against them in parts of the population. Furthermore, the Government allegedly announced a ban on marriage between Bangladesh nationals and non-citizens, such as the Rohingyas, to avoid the latter using marriage to gain citizenship. A circular was issued to that effect, providing a strict directive to district registrars to refrain from registering marriages between members of the local population and refugees from Myanmar living in Bangladesh, thus constituting a discrimination against this group of people.2 2 6 See Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 30 (2004) on racial discrimination against non-citizens.