‘Govt gets no int’l support: Toes Myanmar plan on Rohingya’

Dhaka, Aug 24 – BNP on Saturday alleged that the government has completely failed to win international support for starting the repatriation of Rohingyas and resolve the problem. Speaking at a press briefing after a meeting of the party’s standing committee members at its chairperson’s Gulshan office, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also accused the government of working to implement Myanmar’s formula and fulfil its desires.
“It has nearly been two years since Rohingyas came to Bangladesh, but no one of them could be sent back to Myanmar. The government has failed to properly present the Rohingya issue before the international community,” he said.
The BNP leader further said, “It has completely failed to get the global community’s support for forcing Myanmar to resolve the problem and take necessary steps for starting the repatriation.”
He said their party thinks the government has surrendered to Myanmar and its formula over the Rohingyas issue. “The latest move to initiate Rohingya repatriation turned futile as the government could not take steps to ensure their security, citizenship, and rights to return to their homesteads.”
The BNP leader said the government also did nothing to restore Rohingyas’ confidence that they can safely return to their homeland. “We think the government is working to implement the formula and desires of Myanmar.”
At the beginning of the problem, Fakhrul said their party suggested holding an all-party dialogue on the Rohingya issue and creating a national consensus to overcome the problem. “But the government didn’t pay heed to it.”
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should have visited the countries that took a position in favour of Myanmar to neutralise them and get their sympathy. “Neither the head of the government or its any representative has so far gone for any official visit to any country over the Rohingya issue.”
Fakhrul said the government is being failed to protect Bangladesh’s interests regarding the Rohingya problem as it is only working on Myanmar’s formula.
Despite all the preparations, no Rohingya turned up on Thursday to avail the voluntary repatriation offer given to them to go back to their place of origin in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, prompting the authorities to suspend the repatriation process for the day.
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15 last year but it was also halted amid unwillingness of Rohingyas to go back — for lack of a congenial environment in Rakhine.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas most of whom entered the country since August 25, 2017. The two countries signed a repatriation deal on November 23, 2017, but there has been little progress.
Fakhrul alleged that the Prime Minister and some ruling party leaders made some ‘false’ remarks involving BNP and its top leadership with the August-21 grenade attack incident out of their political vengeance.
He urged the ruling party leaders to refrain from carrying out a ‘false’ propaganda against BNP and its leadership.
The BNP leader said their party has decided to hold a discussion on September 1 and take out a rally on September 2 in the city, marking its founding anniversary.
Fakhrul said their meeting elaborately discussed the legal issues relating to their chairperson’s cases and decided to challenge the High Court’s decision denying their chairperson bail in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.
Apart from Fakhrul, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Selima Rahman and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku attended the meeting. – GreenWatch Dhaka with UNB