Dhaka plans to initiate dialogue with Myanmar on Rohingya

Has made proposals to Myanmar

Mohammed Shahriar Alam

The Bangladesh government is likely to hold ministerial- level talks with Myanmar regarding the Rohingya issue on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, the State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, said in Kolkata on Monday. He was speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of an event in the city.

“We have made a few proposals [to the Myanmar government] but have not received any favourable response. There is a possibility of a ministerial-level talk [regarding the Rohingya issue] on the sidelines of the U.N.,” Mr. Alam said.

Security threat

Pointing out that there are currently about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, Mr. Alam said, “For Bangladesh, it is obviously a security threat. We have had incidents in the past. We are registering the Rohingya population for the first time and work has begun about a weak ago.”

He did not rule out the possibility of links between the armed group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and “foreign terrorist organisations”.

“We do not reject the idea that they are linked with foreign terrorist organisations,” Mr. Alam said.

He said that his government had instructed the law enforcement agencies in the local administration to ensure “the Rohingya population does not go outside the designated area in the Cox’s Bazaar district”. However, he said that the Rohingya crisis was a “security as well as a humanitarian issue”.

Even as he refused to comment on the Indian government’s decision to deport Rohingyas back to Myanmar, Mr. Alam said that they had received “assurances” from India regarding support on the Rohingya issue.

“Our High Commissioner in India met the Foreign Affairs Secretary of India’s Ministry of External Affairs. We asked for support and received assurances,” said Mr. Alam.

Onus on Myanmar

As for the solution to the Rohingya crisis, Mr. Alam made it clear that to resolve the issue, the Myanmar government had to take the Rohingyas back as citizens. “The Rohingya issue can be resolved only if the Myanmar government takes back the more than 800,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh and in other parts of the world as citizens,” Mr. Alam said.