‘We expect Indian aid on Rohingya issue’

Bangladesh seeks UN resolution

Commending India’s role in the 1971 war with Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh, a senior Bangladesh Minister said here on Friday that Delhi needs to play “a similar diplomatic role” to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Minister of Housing and Public Works of Bangladesh, who was in Kolkata to attend Vijay Diwas marking the surrender of the Pakistani Army in 1971, said India should influence the international community to bring Myanmar under pressure to take back the Rohingya refugees.

Since August 25, nearly 650,000 Rohingya Muslims have reached Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

“We would look forward to India’s role. The way India played a diplomatic role earlier [in 1971] to liberate us, we would expect them [India] to play a similar role now. We would expect India to initiate a resolution in the UN to ensure [Rohingya] return [to Myanmar],” Mr. Hossain said.

The Minister added that pushing the refugees back to Myanmar is not an option.