Staff Reporter :
The government on Thursday summoned Myo Myint Than, Myanmar Ambassador to Dhaka and strongly protested against his (Myint Than) country’s navy’s firing on Bangladeshi fishermen in the Bay of Bengal.
“We expressed our deep concern over Myanmar navy’s firing on Bangladeshi fishermen, and in a letter with strong language protested against the attack. We have also urged the Myanmar government to investigate the incident and compensate injured fishermen,” Kamrul Ahsan Secretary (Bilateral and Consular), Ministry of Foreign Affairs told journalists at his office yesterday afternoon.
He also handed over a protest note to the Myanmar envoy at that time. Myo Myint Than came to Foreign Ministry office at about 1am, a source close to the Foreign Ministry said.
On Wednesday morning, Myanmar Navy opened fire on a Bangladeshi fishing trawler in the Bay of Bengal near St. Martin’s Island in Cox’s Bazar, leaving 4-6 fishermen injured.
Kamrul Ahsan also urged Myanmar to give due consideration to the demand from international community to conduct impartial investigation into the alleged indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force and human rights violation during the ongoing military operation in the Rakhine State. According to ministry sources, the government also handed over a formal letter to the Myanmar Ambassador to request his government to take back all Rohingyas immediately.
The Myanmar government has been asked to take back its all registered and non-registered Rohingya citizens from Bangladesh.
Around 41,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh in recent years so far despite tight border measures since October 9.
Thousands of the fleeing refugees have been sent back to Myanmar by Bangladeshi border guards. More than 2,30,000 Rohingya are already living in Bangladesh, most of them illegally, although around 32,000 are formally registered as refugees. Thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross border into Bangladesh despite Border Guard’s sincere effort to prevent the influx.
Earlier on November 23, Bangladesh government had summoned the Myanmar envoy to express concerns over the influx of Rohingyas fleeing persecution in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is allocating € 300 000 (BDT 24,941,382) in humanitarian aid fund to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees who have recently fled from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh.
The aid will directly benefit 7 500 newly arrived refugees in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. “Most of the Rohingya families who have recently crossed the Naaf River have arrived with nothing, and are therefore in critically need of humanitarian assistance”, in a statement Roman Majcher, Head of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) office in Bangladesh said. “The support from the European Commission will not only ensure that their urgent needs are addressed, but will also contribute to help them cope with what they have just gone through by providing them with psychological support”. The EU-funded assistance will focus on delivering much-needed immediate relief and assistance to Rohingya refugees in terms of food and nutrition support, as well as the provision of non-food relief items such as sleeping kits, hygiene parcels and warm clothes. Unconditional cash grants will also be distributed among the most vulnerable to help them cover their daily basic needs, and psychological support will also be provided to help them cope with post-traumatic stress and shock.
Bangladesh has witnessed a major influx of members of the Rohingya community into the south-eastern Chittagong Division over the last weeks, as a result of escalating tensions and violence in the northern part of neighbouring Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
It is believed that thousands of Rohingya refugees have crossed the border into the country in search of safety, more than half of whom are women and children.
Many are in dire condition, both physically and mentally, and many children have arrived showing signs of malnutrition. The sudden increase in the number of refugees has prompted urgent needs for shelter, clothes and other relief items.
The EU funding is being made available via the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) through its Small Scale Response mechanism.
