Khaleda asks government to provide shelter to fleeing Rohingyas

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is concerned about the ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine and has asked the government to provide shelter to the hundreds of Rohingya people fleeing persecution there.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 28 August 2017, 04:45 PM
Updated : 28 August 2017, 04:45 PM

Now in London after an eye surgery, she issued a statement on Monday when the government remains bent on not letting any more Rohingyas enter Bangladesh.

The statement reached the media carrying the signature of BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

“I am asking the administration and law enforcers to provide shelter and security to the Rohingyas who are fleeing persecution,” said Khaleda.

More than 500,000 Rohingyas have taken refuge in Bangladesh over the last few decades to evade ethnic cleansing. Myanmar, a Buddhist majority country, refuses to recognise the Muslim Rohingyas as citizens.

A few years ago, Bangladesh closed its borders to stop Rohingya influx. Since then, the government has remained indifferent towards calls from other countries and international organisations to provide shelter to the refugees.

It has cited its inability to take further burden of refugees and highlighted the crimes and militant activities the Rohingya refugees are engaged inside Bangladesh.

Rohingyas again started crowding Bangladesh borders following attacks on police outposts in Rakhine last year.

More than 50,000 of them were allowed to enter on humanitarian grounds.

In the face of another army crackdown in the volatile state, hundreds of Rohingyas are now desperately trying to enter Bangladesh. Some of them have already found ways to Chittagong Medical College Hospital with burns and gunshot wounds.

“I strongly condemn the violence being unleashed on Rohingyas in Rakhine state. “Rohingya men, women and children are living along the Naf River on the other side of the Bangladesh border amid terrible uncertainty,” Khaleda said in the statement.

“This is an inhuman, painful and heartbreaking sight.”

“I hope the Myanmar government shows prudence in ensuring security of the Rohingyas and take measures to prevent further attacks on them.”

Keeping the issue of Rohingyas unresolved for longer periods may upset regional stability, she said in a warning to the Myanmar government.

She also faulted ‘careless’ Bangladesh government’s weak diplomatic efforts for the worsening Rohingya problems.

“I ask them to ensure the security of lives and properties of Rohingya people who have been given shelter in Bangladesh and take measures to repatriate them to their country,” said the former prime minister.