Rohingya Refugees: Myanmar should take them back

Describing Rohingyas as a big burden for Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said Myanmar should take back its citizens.

She said this when two delegations of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Population, Development and Reproductive Health and UK Conservative Friends of Bangladesh jointly called on her at the Gono Bhaban.

The PM said Bangladesh sheltered the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds as it had a similar experience during the Liberation War in 1971 when an estimated 10 million Bangladeshis took shelter in India as refugees.

“Now the Rohingyas have emerged as a big burden for us and the local people have to face immense suffering for them,” Hasina said.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said the premier extended sincere thanks to the local people for accepting the suffering.

The delegations, led by UK APPG Chair Anne Main, handed over a report to Hasina on their visit to Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.

They appreciated the PM for her humanitarian gesture in sheltering the forcibly displaced Rohingyas and said they would continue their support over the Rohingya issue.

Regarding Bangladesh-UK relations, the PM said Britain has continuously been giving assistance to Bangladesh for its development.

The UK APPG team praised Bangladesh’s family planning policy, adopted by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the Liberation War.

The delegation members also said the name of Bangladesh was mentioned in many UK reports for its success on family planning issues. They lauded Bangladesh’s socio-economic development.

Hasina said her government was working tirelessly for the country’s development. “My main task is to improve the condition of the rural areas and the rural masses.”

PM’s Political Affairs Adviser HT Imam, Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman and British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Chatterton Dickson were present on the occasion.