Staff Reporter :
Parliamentarians from various countries under Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) on Sunday extended full support to Bangladesh with commitment to stand beside the country on resolving Rohingya crisis.
The Parliament Members proposed taking a resolution on plights of Rohingya people, sending a CPA delegation to Myanmar to get firsthand information and meeting Myanmar leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi.
They also wanted to visit the Rohingyas who fled Myanmar’s persecution and taken shelter in camps in Cox’s Bazar.
They said this after Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali briefed them about the Rohingya issue on Sunday.
They also termed the atrocities against Rohingyas in Myanmar as “genocide” which cannot be tolerated.
Chairperson of the CPA and Speaker of Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said that the CPA will seriously consider the proposal prepared by the visiting Members of Parliament to adopt a resolution on the Rohingya issue.
Shirin Sharmin said that the MPs appealed to adopt a resolution in all the respective countries’ Parliaments to denounce the atrocities committed against the Rohingyas, leading to their mass exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the eight-day long 63rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) was inaugurated officially on Sunday on the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad in the capital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also vice-patron of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, inaugurated the conference in the noon .
Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) are jointly organising the CPC which will end on November 8.
The theme of CPC is “Continuing to enhance high standards of performance of Parliamentarians.” The theme of the CPA is Democracy, Diversity and Development.
Chairperson of CPA and Speaker of Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh Dr Shirin Sharmin Choudhury delivered welcome address while Secretary-General of the CPA Akbar Khan, Commonwealth youth representative Aiman Sadique and treasurer of CPA Vicki Dunn spoke, among others, on the occasion.
Messages of Queen Elizabeth (II) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat Patricia Scotland were read out on the occasion.
More than 550 delegates from 144 National and Provincial parliaments of 44 countries joined the conference. A total of 52 countries are members of CPA.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali in a written statement also asked CPA members to “take a united stand against all discriminatory policies and activities that run counter to human rights and good relations between countries, and that any such policies are thwarted and not allowed to thrive for upholding democratic principles globally.”
He said the Rohingyas must be able to return to their original place of residence in the Rakhine State.
“About a million persecuted, disenfranchised, stateless people are vulnerable to any kind of radical ideas or instigation. Deep frustration and hopelessness of the forcibly displaced population could create condition ripe for radicalisation and destabilise the region and beyond,” the Minister added.
