Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said the international community is constantly calling on Bangladesh to shelter Rohingyas floating on boat in the Bay of Bengal but no other country in this region is being requested to share the burden in a similar way. According to a media report, the foreign minister conveyed the above message when British Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations Lord Tariq Ahmad made a phone call on Monday requesting him to shelter the Rohingyas. He said, “Bangladesh has already given shelter to around 1.1 million Rohingyas on humanitarian ground despite limited resources. The floating Rohingyas are not in Bangladesh territory.” We’re surprised why not it is the responsibility of surrounding countries of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to help the distress Rohingyas? There are eight countries — Myanmar, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Bangladesh — in this region. But all of them like to play a silent role.
It is true that countries under the European Union are investing billions of dollars in Myanmar. At the same way, Human Rights Organisations are also not vocal on the issue though military operation is still going on in Myanmar and Rohingya people are losing lives almost every day. Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has also urged Bangladesh to shelter the floating Rohingyas when none of the South Asian countries was agreed to accept them. What’s significant is that these Rohingyas had started a perilous journey on boats hoping to avail a better life after reaching Malaysia being lured by the human traffickers. And this sort of incident is nothing new. Earlier several Rohingyas had either died or rescued after their boats were capsized in the sea on the way to different countries, including Malaysia.
We must say the world community has terribly failed to create pressure on Myanmar government to settle the issue though many years have gone in the meantime. All of them in combine will have to shoulder the blame.
