Bangladesh wants ‘sustainable’ repatriation of Rohingyas as Myanmar agrees to take them back

Bangladesh is focusing on the “sustainable” return of Rohingyas to Myanmar following a “significant” UN deal.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali’s visit to Myanmar was to understand the progress of arranging physical infrastructure and the psychological aspect of the local community about taking Rohingyas back, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told reporters at his office on Monday.

“From that view, physical structure progressed a lot.”

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque who accompanied the foreign minister during the visit to the Rakhine State on Aug 11 said at a separate event in Dhaka that Myanmar wants to take Rohingyas back.

“From locals to the government level, we heard ‘we want to bring them back’. This is something we did not hear before,” he told reporters before joining a seminar at Dhaka University.

The decades-old Rohingya crisis took an appalling turn last year on Aug 25 when hundreds of thousands of them started fleeing the Rakhine State following a military crackdown.

Over 700,000 took shelter since then, taking the number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh to about 1.1 million.

State Minister Shahriar Alam said it’s a “deeply rooted” crisis and nobody can expect a quick solution.

“We don’t want to send out 5,000 or 10,000 in a hurry. We want a sustainable return,” he said as many of the Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar camps have come back after repatriation.”

“The prime minister is the only leader in the world who took charge of 1.1 million Rohingyas. Others joined her later,” Alam said. “So it’s our responsibility to make it sustainable”.

He said Myanmar’s deal with the UN agencies is a “significant process” in the last two months.

“All now realised that this should be resolved and Myanmar has to do that. There is no disagreement in this regard,” he said.

The Bangladesh delegation visited Kain Gyi village inhabited by the ethnic Rakhine and Moro people on Saturday as part of the visit to Myanmar to see their preparations to take back Rohingyas.

The delegation was taken to the border on the Myanmar side where few thousand displaced Myanmar nationals have been staying on the border.

They also visited reception centres at Taung Pyo Let Yar and Nga Khu Ya and the transit camp at Hla Poe Kaung that can accommodate 30,000 people.

At Shwe Zar village they saw around 148 prefabricated houses for returnees are being built with assistance from the government of India.

They visited Pan Taw Pyin village from where most of the 15,000 inhabitants fled to Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister Ali was informed that remaining Muslims and peoples of Buddhist and Hindu faith are currently living there.

Myanmar has built 22 houses for internally displaced people and around 50 more houses for the returnees in the village.

Asked when the repatriation can begin, Foreign Secretary Haque said this kind of repatriation is “very complex and difficult”.

“This never happens swiftly.”

Haque said Myanmar authorities showed them the progress they made so far. They also informed the Bangladesh side that they will start the process of implementing the Kofi Annan Commission report that recommended Myanmar citizenship of the stateless Rohingyas.