Diplomatic Correspondent :
Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to begin repatriation of the first group of Rohingyas, who arrived here from Rakhine State after persecution, by mid-November.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said it on Tuesday, after the meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the repatriation of verified Rohingyas in the city.
But the Foreign Secretary did not give any specific number of Rohingyas to be repatriated in the first batch.
Foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque led the 15-member Bangladesh delegation, while his counterpart Myint Thu led a 12-member Myanmar delegation.
Two members of the Myanmar delegation will visit Rohingya camps on Wednesday, a development expected to encourage them to return home.
Shahidul Haque said, “Return is always complex, a difficult process. But if everyone has a political will, it is possible to bring this to a fruitful end. Today we got an impression that both sides have strong political will.”
Myanmar Foreign Secretary Mynt Thu said, “We have the political will for repatriation. We will begin the process next month,” said Mynt Thu.
Myint said that Myanmar government streamlined lot of measures, including promoting public policies to maintain law and order so that Rohingyas could get security in the northern Rakhaine state. ‘We have outlined a number of measures to make sure that there will be fair environment,’ he said.
“We have trained the police, other law and enforcement agencies in workshops – educating them against discrimination. Also, we have been planting awareness against such discriminations,” Mynt Thu told reporters.
Taking cues from Shahidul Haque, Mint Thu said: “We have shown political will, flexibility and accommodative attitude in order to commence the repatriation at the earliest possible date.” After the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25 last year, more than 800,000 Rohingyas – mostly children and women-arrived in Bangladesh.
They joined already living more than 400,000 refugees in squalid and cramped camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar formed the JWG on December 2017 to start repatriating Rohingya refugees by January 23, 2018. In May, the JWG’s Myanmar side urged the Bangladeshi side to commence the repatriation of the prior-verified 778 Muslims and 444 Hindu Rohingyas.
This was the third meeting of the working group formed after the two countries signed a repatriation deal following an appalling exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh last year.
For about a year now, Bangladesh has been pushing Myanmar to take back its nationals.
Alongside, the country has tried to convince the international community to force Myanmar to take back the big population Bangladesh now feeds.
Myanmar’s consent to repatriate the Rohingyas, after lots of diplomatic efforts, remained questionable with the dillydallying witnessed from their side.
Now, Bangladesh says it sees the will within Myanmar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to begin repatriation of the first group of Rohingyas, who arrived here from Rakhine State after persecution, by mid-November.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said it on Tuesday, after the meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the repatriation of verified Rohingyas in the city.
But the Foreign Secretary did not give any specific number of Rohingyas to be repatriated in the first batch.
Foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque led the 15-member Bangladesh delegation, while his counterpart Myint Thu led a 12-member Myanmar delegation.
Two members of the Myanmar delegation will visit Rohingya camps on Wednesday, a development expected to encourage them to return home.
Shahidul Haque said, “Return is always complex, a difficult process. But if everyone has a political will, it is possible to bring this to a fruitful end. Today we got an impression that both sides have strong political will.”
Myanmar Foreign Secretary Mynt Thu said, “We have the political will for repatriation. We will begin the process next month,” said Mynt Thu.
Myint said that Myanmar government streamlined lot of measures, including promoting public policies to maintain law and order so that Rohingyas could get security in the northern Rakhaine state. ‘We have outlined a number of measures to make sure that there will be fair environment,’ he said.
“We have trained the police, other law and enforcement agencies in workshops – educating them against discrimination. Also, we have been planting awareness against such discriminations,” Mynt Thu told reporters.
Taking cues from Shahidul Haque, Mint Thu said: “We have shown political will, flexibility and accommodative attitude in order to commence the repatriation at the earliest possible date.” After the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25 last year, more than 800,000 Rohingyas – mostly children and women-arrived in Bangladesh.
They joined already living more than 400,000 refugees in squalid and cramped camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar formed the JWG on December 2017 to start repatriating Rohingya refugees by January 23, 2018. In May, the JWG’s Myanmar side urged the Bangladeshi side to commence the repatriation of the prior-verified 778 Muslims and 444 Hindu Rohingyas.
This was the third meeting of the working group formed after the two countries signed a repatriation deal following an appalling exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh last year.
For about a year now, Bangladesh has been pushing Myanmar to take back its nationals.
Alongside, the country has tried to convince the international community to force Myanmar to take back the big population Bangladesh now feeds.
Myanmar’s consent to repatriate the Rohingyas, after lots of diplomatic efforts, remained questionable with the dillydallying witnessed from their side.
Now, Bangladesh says it sees the will within Myanmar.
