Relocating Rohingyas to remote shoal will be suicidal for Bangladesh: BNP

The BNP has termed ‘suicidal’ the decision to relocate the Rohingya refugees to a remote shoal in Noakhali and demanded the plan be dropped.

The party’s National Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed thinks it is an imprudent decision to let the Rohingyas settle in Bangladesh.

“The government has allocated money for a project to relocate 100,000 Rohingya refugees to Noakhali’s Bhasan Char. It’s a very wrong decision on the part of the government,” Moudud told a discussion in Dhaka on Friday.

“Cancel the project immediately. That’s what I have to tell the government because this is a suicidal project. It will not benefit the people of Bangladesh in any way,” he added.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, gave the final approval to the project, ‘Asrayan-3’, on Tuesday.

It aims to construct residences and necessary security infrastructure for housing 100,000 forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals on the shoal in Noakhali’s Hatia at a cost of Tk 23.12 billion.

Over 600,000 Rohingyas have joined around 400,000 refugees living in Bangladesh for decades after the Myanmar Army launched an operation in response to insurgent attacks on security forces on Aug 25.

Bangladesh has sheltered the refugees at camps in Cox's Bazar.

Bhasan Char in Hatia. Reuters

Moudud claimed more Rohingyas started crossing the border after hearing the news of their ‘permanent settlement’ on the shoal even though the government signed an ‘arrangement’ with Myanmar to send back recently arrived refugees.

“Many of the Rohingyas who stayed back in Rakhine are now coming to Bangladesh because they know they have a place in Bangladesh,” he said.

Moudud expressed concern that the Rohingyas  may make more demands once they get a 'permanent' place to live.

“They may later demand education, care, power and gas,” the former law minister said.

“Their demands will rise by the day. Neither the people not the government of Bangladesh can bear this burden.”

He also alleged the deal to send back the Rohingyas was a ‘trap and hoax’ by Myanmar.

“The government had to step into the trap of the deal due to its diplomatic failure. It is a trap; it is a hoax. Because it is impossible to fulfil the conditions set in the deal,” he said.

He said it was the government’s ‘failure’ to bring India, China and Russia on Bangladesh’s side in solving the Rohingya crisis.

“They are the reasons why Bangladesh had to sign the deal,” he claimed.