Bangladesh has reiterated that it is not in a position to shelter any new Rohingya, rather wants to see those who recommend Bangladesh to take more Rohingyas to share the burden by taking them.
“We also made it clear to the UNHCR. It is not possible for us (to take more Rohingyas). UNHCR wants us to provide shelter to them (new arrivals),” Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.
He said Bangladesh has done more than what it was supposed to do by sheltering 1.2 million Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.
“Those who come to us with advice or those who want to advise us - let them take the Rohingyas,” said the adviser.
He said the government is stopping the entry of new Rohingyas where it is possible.
Hossain said they will discuss the Rohingya issue more deeply to find a solution.
On September 3, the Foreign Affairs adviser said the government would prevent any fresh entry of the Rohingyas, noting that around 8,000 Rohingyas recently entered Bangladesh, fleeing armed conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The adviser said he will discuss the issue with the Home Adviser and it can even be discussed at the Council of Advisers.
Bangladesh, in principle, has decided not to welcome any fresh entry though he said it is painful to say in such a way.
“We need to try and prevent it,” he said, adding that it is difficult to seal off any border.
Hossain said the border with Myanmar has been sealed off, but acknowledged the difficulty of completely securing the frontier.
Earlier, Interim Government Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus sought United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi’s support for the “dignified and voluntary” return of more than one million Rohingya people, who live in camps in Bangladesh, to their homeland in Myanmar.
High Commissioner Grandi had a conversation with Chief Adviser Prof Yunus over the phone on Monday to congratulate him on his assumption of the leadership of the Interim Government of Bangladesh.
The UNHCR chief requested the chief adviser to attend a meeting on the Rohingya crisis on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
Grandi informed the chief adviser that he plans to visit Bangladesh in October this year.
Seven years ago, on 25 August 2017, some 700,000 Rohingya men, women and children were forced to flee Myanmar and seek protection in Bangladesh.
