ALTHOUGH three years have already elapsed since the Myanmar military had forced its Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, their repatriation to their ancestral homes is still a far cry. Then at least 7,50,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh crossing over the Naff River to keep away them from military persecution.
Regardless of all the preparations for the second repatriation attempt, not a single Rohingya turned up on August 22, 2019, to be voluntarily returned to Rakhine. It is a repetition of what happened in the first attempt in 2017.
Myanmar government has made it clear that it knows the weakness of Bangladesh government. It has also been proved that the government is incapable of gathering international support for Myanmar to take the matter of repatriation with any seriousness.
According to media reports, there is little likelihood of the talks to begin this year in regard to the Rohingya repatriation issue as because of the prevailing Covid- 19 pandemic situation and the Myanmar’s general election in November next. There are no signs that the country will be interested in talks on the Rohingya repatriation issue before the election.
Even with China’s mediation, the two countries failed to carry out repatriation on the planned date of 22 August last year. The first date fixed by the two countries was for 15 November 2018, but that too fell through. It is more or less proven that bilateral efforts, even with China’s mediation, are not working out. India, which has been elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, assured Bangladesh to support the Rohingya issue in the United Nations General Assembly.
Bangladesh is hardly in a position to keep on bearing the burden of over a million Rohingya refugees, as it is already a densely populated country. As the first step, the country had handed over a list of 55,000 Rohingyas for repatriation but Myanmar only cleared 3,450 of them.
Our government is very strong for demolishing itself. Only police are their strength to deny of their rights. In other words, our government is very powerful against its own people. We need strong government to deal with Myanmar. Unless the international community will create pressure, our government will have no capacity to act against Myanmar.
