UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has told the government that none of the listed Rohingyas agreed to return to Rakhine in the prevailing situation.
As a result, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the planned start of repatriation of the Rohingya refugees scheduled for Thursday.
The repatriation commission was preparing over the past few days for sending back the first batch of Rohingyas.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will hold a “diplomatic briefing” on the Rohingya repatriation plan at 4.30pm at state guesthouse Padma in Dhaka.
“We will send those who want to go back willingly. We have taken all the preparations. If anybody agrees, we’ll take them to the transit camp,” Kalam said at a media briefing on Thursday.
On Wednesday, officials of Bangladesh’s Refugee Repatriation and Relief Commission met representatives of different international agencies and the government, but no-one was willing to disclose the outcome of the discussions.
The first group of Rohingyas selected for repatriation was not taken to the transit camp set up near the border until Wednesday night, according to Kalam.
The transit camp has been set up two and a half kilometres from the border with arrangements for the brief stay of the Rohingya returnees.
The United Nations, however, has urged Bangladesh to scrap the plan of starting the repatriation now, saying conditions in Myanmar are not yet safe for the Rohingyas, in part because the Buddhists in the country have been protesting against the repatriation.