Rohingyas may pose threat to national security

Illegal Rohingyas may pose a threat to Bangladesh's national security in future, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told parliament yesterday.

"Among the Cox's Bazar population, 20-25 percent people are now Rakhine Muslims. Such huge Rakhine Muslims may become a threat to national security in the future," he said in reply to lawmakers' queries.

In a scripted answer, the minister said Myanmar intruders are harming Bangladesh in terms of social, economic, political and environmental aspects. "They're contributing to a law and order slide by engaging in various misdeeds. They are also putting a negative influence on our overseas labour market."

He went on saying: "The Rakhine people have got engaged in various misdeeds, including drug smuggling, arms and human trafficking and manufacturing drug on the border …they've become a national security concern for Bangladesh." The minister said some 33,000 Rohingyas, registered as refugees, are living in two camps run by United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cox's Bazar. “But it is estimated that some three to four lakh unregistered Myanmar citizens have been staying in five districts, including Cox's Bazar,” he added.

Mahmood Ali said some 75,000 Myanmar citizens had entered Bangladesh afresh since October 2016 following military drives in Rakhine state.

The Muslim community was subjected to massive repression in Rakhine following the military drives after attack on a Myanmar border post in 2016. So, a large number of Muslim nationals from Myanmar started entering Bangladesh illegally, he said.

The minister said though Bangladesh urged Myanmar to take back its citizens on several occasions, it did not pay any heed to the call.

The Myanmar authorities also do not consider the Rakhine Muslims as their citizens, he added. He said Bangladesh also urged the international community to address the issue and the government outlined a plan to relocate the Rohingyas to an island at Hatia of Noakhali district, but it faced opposition from various quarters.