Bangladesh: BNP calls on interim govt to repatriate Rohingyas

Dhaka, June 20 (IANS) Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Friday called on the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus to bolster diplomatic efforts and exert pressure on Myanmar to facilitate the safe, dignified, and voluntary repatriation of Rohingyas who sought refuge in Bangladesh.

In a social media post marking the World Refugee Day, Rahman emphasised the need to resolve Rohingya refugee issue, describing it as one of the world's gravest humanitarian crises.

"Today, on World Refugee Day, we stand in solidarity with millions of forcibly displaced people around the globe. For Bangladesh, this is not just a global issue; it's our lived reality. With over 1.4 million Rohingyas taking shelter in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh continues to show its humanitarian commitment to displaced Rohingyas. But this crisis remains one of the world's gravest, and the burden is growing to levels that are dangerously unsustainable," the BNP leader said.

"We urge the interim government to intensify diplomatic efforts and put sustained pressure on Myanmar for the safe, dignified, and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas. The international community must ensure this is acted upon by all parties, as the crisis is far from over.

"Let us renew our commitment towards implementing and adhering to peaceful and just systems that ensure that no refugee is left behind when returning home," he added further.

World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and honours the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.

The Rohingyas are an ethnic Muslim minority in northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, which borders Bangladesh. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since August 2017, mass violence, armed attacks and human rights violations have forced hundreds of thousands of mainly-Muslim Rohingya to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine State to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, particularly in the Cox Bazar’s region.

Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh with a majority living in the Cox Bazar’s region - home to the world’s largest refugee camp. The United Nations has described the Rohingya as “the most persecuted minority in the world.”

The Rohingyas rely entirely on humanitarian assistance for protection, food, water, shelter and health, and they are living in temporary shelters in highly congested camp settings. Most of them are settled in and around Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region, some of the largest and most densely populated refugee camps in the world.

Recently, the proposed humanitarian corridor into Myanmar’s Rakhine state that passes through Bangladesh and is aimed at delivering aid to the crisis-ridden Rakhine region has emerged as another contentious issue in the South Asian nation.

Last month, Bangladesh's National Security Advisor (NSA) Khalilur Rahman ruled out any possibility of allowing a humanitarian corridor through Bangladesh for Myanmar, saying the government led by Muhammad Yunus has neither discussed nor intends to discuss such a proposal with any party.

“There has been no discussion with anyone regarding giving a corridor to Myanmar through Bangladesh and we will not even discuss it,” Rahman said during a media briefing organised at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

Earlier, Yunus took to social media through the Chief Advisor's handle, emphasising that there has been no provision of aid to Rakhine yet, as it would require consent of all relevant parties and satisfaction of "a number of prerequisites" for aid provision which are common in other cases of humanitarian support around the world.

Yunus stated that Bangladesh has been shouldering the burden of sheltering over 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar and cannot simply afford another wave of refugees.

--IANS

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