No virtual progress in efforts to repatriate Rohingyas: PM

FT ONLINE

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said although Bangladesh and Myanmar have been making various efforts, including the signing of a deal, to repatriate over a million Rohingyas from Bangladesh, there has been no virtual progress in this regard so far.

“We have been making various efforts, we have signed a deal, their [Myanmar’s] ministers visited Bangladesh and saw the sufferings of displaced Rohingyas, but there has been no virtual progress,” she said.

The prime minister made the statement while Secretary General of Amnesty International Salil Shetty met her at her official residence Ganobahaban on Thursday.

Prime minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

To identify them quickly and effectively, she mentioned that Bangladesh has done the biometric registration of over one million Rohingyas who entered the country amid persecution by Myanmar military.

“Bangladesh government is very much careful about the safety and security of the Myanmar Rohingya refugees,” she mentioned.

Sheikh Hasina said her government is arranging temporary shelters for the Rohingyas in Bhashan Char.

She said the Amnesty International is working in Bangladesh for the Rohingyas and hoped that they will continue their works.

Salil Shetty clearly said the centre of the Rohingya crisis is not in Bangladesh, but in Myanmar.

He said he has visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps and talked to Rohingyas. “It is a crime against Rohingyas,” he said adding that the Rohingya women are still traumatized.

Shetty mentioned that he saw the satellite pictures and video evidence of the atrocities carried out on the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

“There should be a public campaign and pressure in favour of Rohingya people,” he said.

The AI Secretary General mentioned that Rohingya refugees must return to their homeland. “But their safety and security must be ensured.

He said the situation will be more challenging to manage the one million Rohingyas during monsoon.

Shetty recalled that when Suu Kyi was interned, the AI was engaged in a strong campaign to have her freed.