bdnews24.com :
The International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC has urged all to sit together and adopt a “mid-term” plan for Rohingya people as the crisis continues to linger even after a year of the massive exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
“Future will tell us what is possible or not. Today we cannot completely say that ‘yes, return will not happen’. All the indications so far show that process goes towards the return,” Head of the Delegation in Bangladesh Ikhtiyar Aslanov told bdnews24.com in an interview on the anniversary of the crisis.
“And even it (return) starts today based on the Jan 16th plan between the two countries, it will need another seven years on top of the one year,” he said.
He argued in favour of his mid-term plan, referring to the deal when Myanmar agreed with Bangladesh to start repatriation with around 2,000 refugees a week.
But it has not started yet, raising concerns about the prospect of the return of those stateless Rohingya people, more than 1 million of whom are living in Bangladesh now.
Rohingya crisis is a decades-old problem as Myanmar has been denying them citizenship since 1982. The former UN secretary general Kofi Annan-led commission said that the root cause of problems lies in Myanmar.
The commission also recommended giving their citizenship back.
But the intensity of the violence on Aug 25 last year, just after the Annan Commission report, drew massive global attention as it was marred by killings, rapes, and arson and resulted in 700,000 fleeing ‘ethnic cleansing’ and taking shelter in Cox’s Bazar.
The UN Security Council, which is divided on Myanmar, later sent for the first time a delegation to Bangladesh to hear their plight.
Bangladesh also responded to the International Criminal Court’s letter saying that The Hague-based court has the jurisdiction to try Myanmar for the atrocities committed to Rohingyas, despite the fact that the Southeast Asian country is not a party to the court.
But Myanmar keeps blaming Bangladesh. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi recently blamed Bangladesh for the delay.
The international community, however, has continued to ask Myanmar to create conditions for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees as they continue to come into Bangladesh.
On Aug 11, a Bangladesh delegation led by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali visited the Rakhine State to see their preparations to repatriate the refugees.
The International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC has urged all to sit together and adopt a “mid-term” plan for Rohingya people as the crisis continues to linger even after a year of the massive exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
“Future will tell us what is possible or not. Today we cannot completely say that ‘yes, return will not happen’. All the indications so far show that process goes towards the return,” Head of the Delegation in Bangladesh Ikhtiyar Aslanov told bdnews24.com in an interview on the anniversary of the crisis.
“And even it (return) starts today based on the Jan 16th plan between the two countries, it will need another seven years on top of the one year,” he said.
He argued in favour of his mid-term plan, referring to the deal when Myanmar agreed with Bangladesh to start repatriation with around 2,000 refugees a week.
But it has not started yet, raising concerns about the prospect of the return of those stateless Rohingya people, more than 1 million of whom are living in Bangladesh now.
Rohingya crisis is a decades-old problem as Myanmar has been denying them citizenship since 1982. The former UN secretary general Kofi Annan-led commission said that the root cause of problems lies in Myanmar.
The commission also recommended giving their citizenship back.
But the intensity of the violence on Aug 25 last year, just after the Annan Commission report, drew massive global attention as it was marred by killings, rapes, and arson and resulted in 700,000 fleeing ‘ethnic cleansing’ and taking shelter in Cox’s Bazar.
The UN Security Council, which is divided on Myanmar, later sent for the first time a delegation to Bangladesh to hear their plight.
Bangladesh also responded to the International Criminal Court’s letter saying that The Hague-based court has the jurisdiction to try Myanmar for the atrocities committed to Rohingyas, despite the fact that the Southeast Asian country is not a party to the court.
But Myanmar keeps blaming Bangladesh. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi recently blamed Bangladesh for the delay.
The international community, however, has continued to ask Myanmar to create conditions for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees as they continue to come into Bangladesh.
On Aug 11, a Bangladesh delegation led by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali visited the Rakhine State to see their preparations to repatriate the refugees.
