Had no choice but to let them in: foreign secretary

Bangladesh had no other alternative to allowing the Rohingyas in when they faced atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque yesterday.

“We had no alternative to letting them in Bangladesh,” he said at a public lecture on “justice and accountability for Rohingya” organised by the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) of Brac University in its auditorium.

Emotion among Bangladeshis ran high when the Rohingyas were killed and their houses burnt, he said at the event attended by academics, diplomats, and representatives from the UN and NGOs.

“It [allowing entry of Rohingyas] was a very difficult decision. We knew about its impact at national level, but we also had to consider international obligations,” Haque said.

Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled brutal military crackdown in Myanmar since August 2017 and joined some 300,000 others who had left previous waves of violence in Rakhine. They have been denied citizenship and basic rights like freedom of movement, education and health since 1982.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a bilateral deal on Rohingya repatriation in November 2017, but Rohingyas refused to return to Rakhine despite two attempts over the last two years, saying that the environment there is not conducive yet.

Myanmar also did not allow the UN investigators, independent journalists and also rejected the ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has jurisdiction for probing the forcible deportation of Rohingyas.

Recently, Gambia, on behalf of the 57-member Organisation for Islamic Conference (OIC) filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, of which Myanmar is a member and cannot avoid responsibility. Human rights groups in Argentina also filed a case with its national court.

“Myanmar has failed in all fronts -- in creating conducive environment at Rakhine as well as ensuring accountability,” said Haque.

ICC can hold the individual perpetrators accountable, while the ICJ can hold accountable the state. Also, the USA, Canada and European Union imposed sanctions on some of the top army officials of Myanmar.

“I hope Myanmar will be under serious pressure now,” the foreign secretary said.

Bangladesh wants to pursue accountability as well as bilateral way of solving the crisis, he said, adding, “Of course, repatriation is always our priority.”

Brac University Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Mohammad Tamim and CPJ Executive Director Manzoor Hasan also spoke at the event.