Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh does not have any official record as to how many Rohingyas fled from Myanmar to this country, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Thursday.
“We have not counted officially the Rohingya refugees who trespassed into the country to escape persecution by the Myanmar authority,” he told journalists at the conference of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commanding officers at its headquarters at Pilkhana in the city yesterday. He said although the United Nations’ report says over 65,000 Rohingya Muslims entered the country, but their number has not been officially verified yet. “Over 5,000 Rohingyas were however, pushed back since October 8,” Asaduzzaman Khan said. Citing UN report on Tuesday Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told Parliament that recently more than 67,000 Myanmar citizens entered Bangladesh being persecuted by Myanmar authorities.
Meanwhile, the government is planning for a temporary rehabilitation to Thengar char in Noakhali’s Hatiya island until their repatriation in Myanmar.
Besides, as many as 33,000 registered and over 300,000 unregistered Myanmar citizens have already been staying in different Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban, Chittagong and other parts of the country since long.
