Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud on Monday said they want to begin the repatriation of the Rohingyas, noting that Myanmar’s internal conflict, which has always been there, cannot be an excuse for delaying the Rohingya repatriation.
"We are always in engagement with Myanmar. We want to see the commencement of repatriation at least," he said, adding that he even requested his Myanmar counterpart during his recent meeting abroad regarding the matter.
Hasan said the Myanmar government needs to take a collective effort to begin the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
He, however, said it is true that the current situation in Arakan creates a barrier to repatriation to some extent but conflict is always there in Myanmar.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.3 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char with a growing number of Rohingya populations every year.
"Look, we engage with the government. We are talking with the government of Myanmar. It is also right that Rohingya repatriation is delayed due to internal conflict there. But what we are talking about is that there has always been chaos in Myanmar," he told reporters in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday.
Sharing the history of the last 70-80 years, Hasan said Myanmar has never been free from unrest, but that cannot be an excuse to not take back the Rohingyas who have been expelled from Myanmar.
Referring to the visit of the members of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs to the Rohingya camp, the foreign minister said various problems have arisen due to the presence of the Rohingyas for a long time.
For example, he said, environmental problems caused by the Rohingyas, law and order problems, as well as many Rohingyas having been linked to Yaba and other drug trafficking and terrorist activities.
Saying that terrorist and fanatic groups are recruiting members from Rohingya camps, he said that not only problems are being created in the country, but also in the neighbouring countries due to the spread of terrorist networks.
"I have spoken to the foreign minister of Myanmar about the repatriation of the Rohingyas and we are also in regular discussions with other countries, so as to put pressure on Myanmar to take back their citizens with full rights," Hasan said.
JS Body Meeting
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs has urged the UN agencies, international non-government organisations (INGOs) and NGOs involved in the Rohingya response to beef up their efforts to attract more support and keep the international community's attention on the Rohingya crisis.
The UN agencies, international non-government organisations (INGOs), NGOs, district administration, and security agencies of Cox's Bazar met the committee members on Sunday.
The committee thanked them for their continued humanitarian support.
They sought cooperation from all so that the Rohingyas could return to Rakhine State at the earliest possible time to attain the ultimate solution of the Rohingya crisis.
The members of the standing committee had their second meeting in Cox’s Bazar.
Eight members of parliament, including the Chairman of the committee Dr AK Abdul Momen and Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, joined the meeting.
The committee members visited Rohingya camps and the Khurushkul Special Ashrayan Project in Cox's Bazar.
In the camps, they visited WFP food distribution centre, learning centre, registration centre, repatriation centres, and office of the camp in charge.
They also exchanged views with Rohingya representatives, where Rohingyas expressed a strong desire to return to Rakhine State.
Acting foreign secretary, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Parliament attended the programme.
BNP’s call for boycotting Indian products failed
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said people will reject it again if BNP comes up with the old and failed agenda of calling a boycott for Indian products.
He made this remark while responding to a question at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said, "Their efforts (call for boycotting Indian products) went unsuccessful. They know it, too. It will be refused by the people of the country again if BNP comes up with the agenda afresh."
He said BNP will further be isolated from people, nothing more than that if they call for a boycott of Indian products. There are Indian products in many of their (BNP leaders) houses.
Hasan said it is essential to keep good relations with the country as the two countries share long borders.
It is not possible to maintain peace and stability with uninterrupted development efforts in the country without good relations with the neighbour.
The foreign minister said the key purpose of such a call from BNP was to create a crisis in the domestic market and cause price hikes of essentials in an effort to create instability in the market.
Responding to a question, he said the BNP is part of such an alliance which gets smaller and sometimes bigger when within the alliance one party becomes three through further divisions.
