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Rohingya crisis: Myanmar refugee proposal is a ploy to defuse international pressure, says Bangladesh
With more than 11,000 Rohingyas fleeing on Monday, Bangladesh says it finds Myanmar’s proposal to take back its citizens in line with a 1992 arrangement as a 'strategy to defuse international pressure'.
Published : 10 Oct 2017, 11:57 AM
Updated : 10 Oct 2017, 01:26 PM
Over half a million refugees have crossed the border into neighbouring Bangladesh, with no let-up in the influx, since Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces in western Myanmar's Rakhine State on Aug 25.
Myanmar may not proceed with the process of taking back the Rohingyas without constant pressure from the global community, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said on Tuesday.
"The proposal to take back some of the Rohingyas may be a strategy to defuse the international pressure. Myanmar may try to limit the number of refugees for repatriation by its own verification process and delay implementing recommendations by the Kofi Annan panel," he said at a discussion in Dhaka on the crisis.
The Rohingya issue is not Myanmar's internal affairs anymore, but a regional issue, says AH Mahmood Ali. File photo
International aid agencies say some 520,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since late August and the United Nations said it was bracing for a
.
Bangladesh initially kept its border closed after violence broke out in Rakhine, but later opened it up to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.
Amid mounting international pressure, Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi addressed the parliament on Sep 19, when she said they were ready to take back 'verified refugees' in line with a deal signed in 1992.
Dhaka had then said it would urge the international community for a verification process supervised by the UN.
Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya refugees over the last few decades before the latest exodus.
In 1992, Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement with the then Myanmar's military regime, following which 236,599 Rohingyas returned to their homeland. But another 2,415 were denied entry even after meeting the criteria in line with the arrangement.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Ali told Dhaka-based diplomats that the previous arrangement will not work now as the current situation is 'entirely different' and verifying Rohingyas based on their residence in Rakhine is not 'realistic' anymore.
Addressing a discussion by government think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Strategic Studies on Tuesday, he said the international community must continue to mount pressure on Myanmar.
The Rohingya issue is not Myanmar's internal affairs anymore, but a regional one, he said.
"Besides, it's not a bilateral issue between us as Bangladesh hasn’t played any role in creating the crisis. The problem and the solution lie with Myanmar."
More on the Rohingya crisis
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