“The foreign ministry has signed a deal with Myanmar to send back the Rohingyas, but we have doubts over its implementation,” Muhith said on Wednesday.
On Nov 23, an arrangement was signed in the Myanmar capital between the two countries, after which the foreign ministry said that it was agreed that a ‘joint working group’ will be formed in three weeks to start the repatriation within two months.
"A specific bilateral instrument (physical arrangement) for repatriation will be concluded in a speedy manner," the ministry said.
Some 625,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Rakhine state in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar since security forces responded to Rohingya militants' attacks on Aug 25 by launching a crackdown.
Following the signing of what the two governments described as an ‘arrangement’, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she hopes the diplomatic efforts will yield a solution.
But Muhith, her octogenarian cabinet colleague, thinks otherwise.
Before the latest exodus of refugees, Bangladesh has been home to over 400,000 Rohingyas over the last few decades.
The finance minister on a previous occasion had described the neighbouring country as ‘bloody rogue’ and said it wants to “destroy” Bangladesh’s economy.
On Thursday, he said that he would raise budget allocations for health, sanitation, food and other sectors for the Rohingyas next year.
The international agencies are providing assistance for the refugees, said Muhith adding that they have already forwarded Bangladesh’s requirements for the next two years to the donors.