PM stresses global efforts for Rohingya repatriation

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the international community to take measures to repatriate Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar and ensure their dignified life there.

“The world should think that how the Rohingya crisis can be resolved so that they could return to their homeland and have a decent life there,” she said.

The premier said this while a British cross party parliamentary delegation led by Vice Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Bangladesh and Chair of APPG on Indo-British, Virendra Sharma, MP, paid a courtesy call on her at her official Ganabhaban residence here.

PM’s Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam briefed the newsmen after the meeting.

This is the first parliamentary visit from the UK since general elections were held in Bangladesh on January 7 last.

During the meeting, Sheikh Hasina said they gave shelter to the Rohingyas after their mass exodus in face of inhuman torture in 2017.

The Myanmar has agreed to take back their nationals, but has yet to take any measure to this end despite the fact that six years have already passed, she said.

Mentioning that the global monetary assistance decreases since the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, she said, “So, Rohingyas are now becoming a huge burden for a small country like Bangladesh”.

The five-member parliamentary delegation includes Paul Scully, MP, former Conservative Minister for Tech and Digital Economy, Neil Coyle, MP, Member of UK House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Andrew Western, MP, Opposition Whip at the House of Commons and Dominic Moffitt, Senior Parliamentary Assistant at House of Commons.

Sheikh Hasina said there were some 40,000 pregnant women among the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals at the time of their mass exodus.

She said the government and the people of Bangladesh primarily gave them food and shelter.

“Despite six years have passed, Myanmar did nothing, which is tangible and practical, to take back their citizens, though, they earlier agreed to do so,” she said.

As a result, the Myanmar nationals are leading a miserable life in camps in Bangladesh, she added.

“Even Rohingyas are now indulged in criminal acts that include drug, arms and human trafficking and internal conflicts that sometimes lead to bloodsheds,” she also said.

The premier said they have arranged better accommodation facilities for Rohingyas in Bhashanchar Island.

“Some Rohingyas have already been rehabilitated in Bhashanchar. They are very well there as we have arranged food, medicare facilities, education and employment for them,” she said.

She also said the Rohingyas are divided in some small groups.

“If one group wants to go to Bhashanchar, another group put obstacles,” she added.

On January 30, the delegation will visit the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar in reaffirmation of their support to Bangladesh’s generous hosting of the persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar and resolution of the protracted Rohingya crisis.

The delegation, which arrived in Dhaka on January 27, is scheduled to depart for London on January 31.

PM’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Secretary M Salauddin, were present. (BSS)