Jahangir calls for more Rohingya rehabilitation in US

Home Affairs Adviser retired Lieutenant General Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury today called upon the United States to offer refuge to more Rohingyas as US Embassy chargé d’affaires in Dhaka Tracey Ann Jacobson paid a courtesy call on him.

“From the very onset (of the crisis) the United States took a lead role in providing humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees. By now they have extended refuge to a number of Rohingyas,” a home ministry press release quoted him as saying during the meeting.

Chowdhury added: “I call upon the US to rehabilitate more of them”.

According the press release Jacobson told the adviser that her country by now provided refuge to around 17,000 Rohingyas under a process which was still underway.

She said the US was the largest donor for the development and rehabilitation of Rohingyas while its state-run US-Aid agency was working with Bangladeshi NGOs to improve their quality of life.

The press release said their talks were featured by several other issues of mutual interests like security and counter-terrorism, capacity building of law enforcement agencies and Police Reform Commission, the border situation, minority issues, and cooperation in agricultural sector.

In response to a query over Bangladesh-India frontier issue by the envoy, Chowdhury said the border situation was by and large normal and chiefs of two border forces were scheduled to hold a meeting next month in New Delhi.

Asked by chargé d’affaires if minority community members were being persecuted, the adviser said “no minority is being persecuted in Bangladesh”.

“This is propaganda by the Indian media,” the press release quoted him as saying.

The adviser told the envoy that the few incidents that took place relating to the minorities after August 5, 2024 occurred due to political reasons, not because of any religious factor.

Chowdhury said Bangladesh does not want to use the word “minority” as everyone is a citizen of Bangladesh having equal rights. (BSS)