Stop concocted campaign, concentrate on obligations: Bangladesh to Myanmar

Bangladesh has asked Myanmar to stop its “concocted” campaign on the Rohingya issue and concentrate on the fulfilment of its obligations.

“Myanmar must act decisively to address the real causes that are preventing the displaced Rohingya from going back voluntarily,” the foreign ministry said in a statement following Myanmar’s minister for international cooperation U Kyaw Tin’s recent comment.

The minister, according to Bangladesh’s foreign office, in the recent NAM meeting claimed that Bangladesh is “mischaracterising” the Rohingya issue by portraying it as ‘religious persecution’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’.

Myanmar always portrays Rohingyas as ‘illegal migrants’ from Bangladesh during the colonial era.

Now they came up with an innovation that there was a massive influx of Bangladeshis to Myanmar during the war of liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, the foreign ministry said.

“All these claims are baseless.”

“The government of Bangladesh rejects such baseless accusations, falsification and misrepresentation of facts.”

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas. Of them, over 700,000 entered cross into the country for refure after Myanmar's military crackdown in the Rakhine State in August 2017, which the UN branded as 'ethnic cleansing'.

Despite attempts to repatriate the refugees, no-one returned to their homeland citing Myanmar's failure to create conditions conducive to their 'voluntary, safe and dignified' return.

The foreign ministry said the government of Bangladesh has 'consistently' been pursuing a resolution to this longstanding issue through dialogue while maintaining friendly relations with Myanmar.

“Unjustifiable accusations on the part of a party who is entirely responsible for the protracted crisis is totally unacceptable. Such a venture would undermine Bangladesh’s current efforts to resolve the crisis.”

"This is to avoid its (Myanmar) obligations for the sustained repatriation and reintegration of the forcibly displaced Rohingya in safety and dignity," the foreign ministry said.

“Myanmar must stop this concocted campaign and rather concentrate on fulfiling its obligations,” Bangladesh asserted in a statement.

Dhaka also urged Myanmar to act decisively to address the real causes that are preventing the displaced Rohingya from going back voluntarily.

Myanmar should seriously consider the comprehensive participation of the international community in creating a suitable environment for the Rohingya to return home as well as monitoring the process of repatriation and reintegration.

“Myanmar should also cooperate with the international community to eliminate the culture of impunity for the sake of a durable solution to the protracted problem,” read the statement.

MYANMAR’S CLAIM, BANGLADESH’S REJECTION

The foreign ministry also provided a historical background of the Rohingya crisis in its statement.

According to historians, the foreign ministry said, the Rohingya people are a distinct ethnic community that has evolved over the centuries through intermingling of migrants of various races and cultures from different parts of the world with Rakhine natives.

As such, on two previous occasions, Myanmar recognised the displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh as their lawful residents and repatriated them.

Following the recent exodus, Myanmar signed bilateral instruments with Bangladesh identifying the Rohingyas as “Myanmar residents”.  As far as the nationality of the Rohingyas is concerned, there cannot be any scope of confusion, according to the foreing ministry.

“Attempts to create controversy over their identity at this stage clearly indicates that Myanmar still pursues the policy of exclusion and marginalisation of its ethnic minorities.”

Myanmar's international cooperation minister claimed that the crisis is confined only to the northern strip of the Rakhine State and people of different faiths are living in harmony in the other parts of the country.

But it is a well-known fact that continued disenfranchisement of the country’s ethnic minorities by successive governments of Myanmar and suppression of their rights and justified demands by force rendered Myanmar as one of the world’s largest homes to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and a leading source of cross border displacements, the foreign ministry said.

“A substantial number of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds are in temporary shelter in different countries for decades and only a few could return and reintegrate in their homeland.”

Myanmar government is yet to demonstrate any political will to implement the provisions of bilateral instruments and to address the underlying political, economic, security, and social issues at the heart of the problem.

Hollow promises and unsubstantiated claims leaving the root causes unattended will not help convince the prospective returnees.

Inordinate delay in verification of past residency of Rohingya with arbitrary rejection of substantial number of displaced people as “not included in the registered list of household” and excessive focus on technicalities are clear manifestations of their utter reluctance to resolve the crisis through dialogue and negotiation, the foreign ministry said.

The claim has been substantiated through their failure to effectively dismantle the IDP camps in Rakhine and resettle the people to the places of their origin or places of their choice, as well as taking back the people sheltered at the international boundary (zero line) as they require no involvement of the government of Bangladesh.

Myanmar often complains against Bangladesh for non-cooperation in repatriation but such an accusation is totally baseless and could be guided by an ulterior motive, according to the government.

No-one agreed to return on two previous repatriation attempts, as the Rohingya are not assured of safety, security, and sustainable livelihood in Rakhine.

The government of Bangladesh maintains its principled position of not preventing anyone, regardless of ethnic and religious identity, who intends to return to Myanmar anytime.

“The government of Bangladesh always stands ready to extend all possible cooperation to those who volunteer to return. Sincerity of Bangladesh in facilitating earliest repatriation of Myanmar residents has been unquestionably established through its actions.”