Sever ties with Myanmar:  FM calls on  int’l community

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday called upon the international community to sever ties with Myanmar to ramp up the pressure on the country to ensure the repatriation of Rohingyas.

Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled "Rohingya Crisis and Repatriation: What is to be done", organised by the magazine Diplomats World in a Dhaka hotel, he also urged for an end to investments in Myanmar.

Momen said, "If they [Myanmar] face international pressure, they are bound to take back the Rohingyas who have taken asylum in Bangladesh.

"The Rohingya crisis is not limited to Bangladesh, but it is a global crisis. So, all countries around the world need to work hard to ensure that the Rohingyas can return to Myanmar quickly," he said.

"Myanmar is our neighbouring country. They are not our enemy. We want the Rohingyas to safely return to their own country," he said.

Saying Bangladesh wanted a speedy and peaceful solution to the crisis, the foreign minister said, "Myanmar has created this problem and the solution lies with it. When they are put under pressure, then Myanmar will listen. So the world should put pressure on the country."

He also termed the lack of economic sanctions by Western countries on Myanmar as unfortunate, highlighting that trade with Western nations, along with China and Russia, continues.

Momen also extended his gratitude to Germany, saying while the country did business with Myanmar, it did not invest there. "I think the other countries should follow suit."

At the event, Brigadier General (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hossain said no international community had come forward in the last four years to take steps to repatriate the Rohingyas as Myanmar was going to be a future geopolitics hub.

He urged Bangladesh to take a more proactive role in creating public opinion before the problem grew further.

Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of the international relations department of Dhaka University and Dr Delwar Hossain, professor of the same department, were the keynote speakers at the event.

Imtiaz Ahmed said that the Myanmar government was no longer recognising Arakanese Muslims and Rohingyas as citizens and their voting rights had been taken away.

"We have to build a civic entity which will work on this issue. The international community needs to also build an Active Dias Forum," he said.

He also recalled the 2017 UN General Assembly, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded the immediate implementation of the recommendations made by the Kofi Annan Commission Report.

Sudipto Mukherjee, country director of UNDP Bangladesh, also spoke at the event yesterday.

More than 622,000 Rohingyas took refuge in Bangladesh to flee a military crackdown against them in Myanmar. About five lakh more Rohingyas had crossed the border and fled to Bangladesh at different times since 1976.

At present, 11,18,557 Rohingyas are staying in 33 camps of Ukhia in Cox's Bazar and Hatiya's Bhasan Char.