PM urges Myanmar to ensure return of Rohingyas

Diplomatic Correspondent: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said Myanmar should let the international organizations to work in the Rakhine state to create a proper environment for the dignified return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya people.
“Myanmar should allow international organizations to work in Rakhine state,” she said when UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer met her at her official residence Ganobhaban, according to a press briefing by PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim.
“We’re pursuing this with Myanmar and also discussed it with them. But no response has yet come. We want to solve it. How long can we host so many people?” the premier was quoted as saying.
She said some Rohingya people are involved in drug, human trafficking and other social problems.
In this regard, Hasina mentioned that Bangladesh had brought back the refugees of the Chittagong Hill Tracts area from India through signing the CHT peace accord in 1997. The UN special envoy said she visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and spoke with the Rohingyas. Now it is essential to create an atmosphere conducive to their dignified return to Myanmar, she said.
She said all including the UN agencies and NGOs are working for Rohingyas in the camps.
Appreciating Bangladesh for its Rohingya management, the UN envoy said Dhaka needs a lot of support in dealing with the Rohingya issue.
Heyzer said she also visited Myanmar and told its military government to find out a solution to the Rohingya crisis.
She called for an ASEAN-Bangladesh initiative to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
She said the Rohingya issue should be an agenda in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ forum.
PM’s ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin, PM’s Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus and PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim were present at the meeting.