FM thanks PM for initiative to relocate Rohingyas

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her "prudent and decisive" action to relocate Rohingyas to Bhasan Char after successful relocation of the first batch on Friday.

He also said that the global leadership and UN agencies have been extending lip services to the persecuted people of Myanmar, reports UNB.

"Global leadership and UN agencies have been extending lip services to the persecuted people of Myanmar and making statements again and again," he said, adding that no one came forward, neither for their relocation nor sending them back to their country of origin - Myanmar.

The Foreign Minister said the relocation of Rohingyas is taking place in phases in order to avoid deaths and accidents due to landslides and other untoward incidents in the overcrowded hilly areas of Kutopalong where drug trafficking, flesh trade and law and order situation have been deteriorating and also to provide a better living for the time being.

Dr Momen said, while the international agencies make noise about facilities in the Rohingya camps or Bhasan Char, no one had the courage nor sincerity to approach Myanmar to create a conducive environment leading to their repatriation to their own country in safety and security and in a dignified way for the wellbeing of Myanmar.

"If these desperate people with no hope for future left alone, there is always a possibility of pockets of radicalism and terrorism, and such may create uncertainty in the region frustrating the ongoing development projects in Myanmar," said the Foreign Minister.

Over the last three years, trade and investment from European, ASEAN, China, Japan and the UK have increased manyfold in Myanmar in spite of violation of human rights in Myanmar, Dr Momen observed.

He said none of the human rights organisations has started any blockade of those countries that are heavily investing in Myanmar nor asking for divestment as they did in the case of Apartheid in South Africa.  

"Fact of the matter is, Rohingya problem was created by Myanmar and they are the only one who can solve it," he said.

Dr Momen said all the international organisations and important countries of the world must commit themselves to approach Myanmar in a meaningful way to resolve this crisis -- the sooner the better.

In the face of growing concerns over the extreme congestion in the camps of Cox’s Bazar and to avert any risk of death due to landslides and other unwarranted incidents, the government has decided to relocate, in phases, 1,00,000 Rohingyas to Bhashan Char.