Solving Rohingya Crisis: BNP calls for national unity
The BNP yesterday reiterated its call for forging national unity among the political parties and civil society members to resolve the Rohingya crisis and ensure the refugees’ repatriation to Myanmar.
Placing a 10-point recommendation, the party alleged that the government had failed on the diplomatic front.
“We all know that the government has no moral stance as it is unelected. So to fill up the moral gap, the government has to unite all the political parties, civil society members and other stakeholders to mount pressure on the
Myanmar government to take back the Rohingyas,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the party’s secretary general, said.
The BNP leader also urged the United Nations, international organisations and the global community to come forward to resolve the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Fakhrul’s comments came at a seminar titled “Plight of the Rohingya and role of Bangladesh”, which was organised by the party at a city hotel.
Delegates from embassies or high commissions of the United States, United Kingdom, China, India, Canada, France, Australia, Japan, Pakistan, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and some other countries also joined the seminar. None of them, however, made any statement.
BNP’s standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowhdury presented the keynote paper where he placed the 10-point recommendations. He discussed the context of the Rohingya exodus, former UN secretary general Kofi Anan’s report on the matter and his solutions for it.
The recommendations were that the government should treat the Rohingya issue as a national crisis, convene a national dialogue to arrive at a national consensus, and initiate a vigorous global campaign to convince all regional and international friends of repatriation.
It also included that a government delegation, led by the foreign minister and others, should visit the land designated for the Rohingyas after repatriation and ensure the environment there is conducive and safe for their return.
“This delegation can also include representatives from the Rohingya community which will help build their confidence and create pressure on Myanmar,” Khasru said.
The party also said the government must ensure that the UN oversees the repatriation and the post-repatriation situation in Myanmar.
Fakhrul alleged that Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader had started blaming the BNP for “instigating” the Rohingyas.
“We think this sort of talk will not resolve the crisis, but instead will strengthen Myanmar and intensify the crisis,” he said.
The BNP leader said there was no alternative to forging national unity and all nations must unite and come forward to resolve the crisis.
Fakhrul said that the country was in danger as the Rohingya repatriation had become uncertain. “From the beginning, we were saying that the government alone cannot solve the crisis.”
BNP standing committee member Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said if repatriation was delayed then the situation would deteriorate.
Former ambassador and BNP leader Reaz Rahman said the Myanmar authority’s policy on the Rohingyas was consistent, whereas Bangladesh’s one was shaky.
BNP standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan, former teacher of Dhaka University Mahbub Ullah and others spoke at the seminar.
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