Rohingyas must go back: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her firm stance on Rohingya repatriation, saying the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals must go back to their homeland.

“The Rohingya nationals, who took shelter in Bangladesh, must return to their homeland of Rakhaine state in Myanmar,” she said when visiting UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy paid a courtesy call on her at her official Ganabhaban residence on Friday evening.

After the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

He said that the prime minister briefly apprised the UAE minister of the present state of the Rohingya issue and said Bangladesh government, along with many international agencies, is helping the Rohingyas.

In this connection, she said Bangladesh and Myanmar had discussions over the issue and inked agreements for their repatriation. “But their repatriation is yet to start,” she added.

Sheikh Hasina also said Bangladesh government is developing an island for providing temporary shelter to the Rohingyas with better facilities.

The UAE state minister assured her country’s continuous support to Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue.

She highly appreciated Prime Minister’s Sheikh Hasina’s humanitarian gesture of giving shelter to more than one million Rohingyas in Bangladesh with all possible facilities.

Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy said the bilateral relations between two countries are excellent and she will work to strengthen the ties further.

The prime minister and the UAE state minister discussed the issue of increasing flight frequencies of Emirates in Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, PM’s Military Secretary Major General Mia Mohammad Zainul Abedin and PMO Secretary Sajjadul Hassan were present at the meeting.