Bangladesh government has taken decision to register severe protest against the push-in policy of the Myanmar authorities and deal with the Rohingya refugee issue diplomatically involving the United Nations and human rights organizations.
Several Ministers, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Tuesday said Rohingya issue has been taken “humanitarianly” though they at the same time expressed government’s inability about providing shelter to the thousands of new refugees.
“At present, Bangladesh Government’s policy is to resister severe protest against the Rohingya push-in. The government has already started work in diplomatic level, including United Nations and human rights organizations, to get a solution,” Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Tuesday.
Expressing government’s incapability, Obaidul Quader said, “It is not possible for Bangladesh to tackle the influx of Rohingya refugees. Already an unusual situation has been created there [in the southeastern bordering areas]. We still don’t know what types of elements are also entering under the cover of refugees.”
Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday said Bangladesh government is providing shelter to the Rohingya refugees on humanitarian ground. “It’s a brutal genocide. It is not acceptable in which way a cleansing operation is being carried out by the Myanmar government to eliminate a nation. We’re giving shelter to them on humanitarian grounds. We can’t torture the refugees like them [Myanmar],” he said.
“We also can’t acknowledge such killings in Aung San Suu Kyi’s country who got Nobel Peace Prize. We think, the Myanmar government should take back its nationals by solving its internal problem,” Nasim said.
Law Minister Anisul Haque on Tuesday said the United Nations should take initiatives to stop the repression on the Rohingyas in the Muslim dominated Rakhine state of Myanmar. “I also believe the world should give attention on the issue,” he added.
Even, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also urged the international community to put pressure on Myanmar to take back their nationals from Bangladesh.
“It is a big burden for Bangladesh to host a huge number of Myanmar nationals. We’ve given shelter to them only on humanitarian grounds,” the PM said when newly appointed Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Rina Prihtyasmiarsi Soemarno paid a courtesy call on the PM at her office on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed for creating a “separate zone” inside Myanmar to rehabilitate Rohingya Muslims under the authority of the international community.
“The Burmese is a ferocious nation. So, the UN force like the Peace Keeping Mission should be deployed there to save the Rohingyas from their atrocity…..The Burmese army is a rogue army. They should be kept away from the separate zone. The saddest thing is that Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Ki is also supporting the atrocities,” Muhith said.
Echoing the same, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury on Monday said the world should stand besides Rohingyas and create pressure on the Myanmar government to bring them back to their own land.
“Bangladesh it is trying its best to help them. But we also have limitations of assets. So, the world should come forward to help in creating pressure on the Myanmar
government to take them back to their own land,” Matia said.
Meanwhile, the new refugees would get shelter at Ukhia’s Balukhali area in Cox’s Bazar district on a temporary basis. The local administration will make arrangement for the shelter of refugees at 50 acres of land under Department of Forest, official sources said.
“We had asked the Forest Department about six months ago to allot the land to give shelter to the Rohingya refugees those entered Bangladesh in October last year after Myanmar government started killing operation. Already a few thousands of refugees are staying there,” Khaled Mahmud, Additional District Magistrate of Cox’s Bazar, said on Tuesday.
He said, “The new refugees will also be sent there. They [refugees] have been asked to take shelter at Balukhali camp, not to stay scatteredly. The administration will conduct eviction drive, if they stay at other places.”
The U.N. refugee agency said a total of 1,23,000 refugees have fled western Myanmar since August 25. “The numbers are very worrying. They are going up very quickly,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan.
