Ask Myanmar to settle it
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Ask Myanmar to settle it
PM tells UK, other countries not to put pressure on Bangladesh over Rohingya issue
Star Report
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged countries, including the United Kingdom, which are concerned about the Rohingya issue, to talk to the Myanmar government instead of putting pressure on Bangladesh.
Hasina made the call at a meeting with British Secretary of State for International Development Affairs Andrew Mitchell at her hotel suite in London on Sunday evening, reports BSS.
After the meet, PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters.
Hasina told Mitchell that Bangladesh, despite being an overpopulated country, was already hosting over 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Cox's Bazar.
In June, as sectarian violence broke out in Myanmar, hundreds of Rohingyas tried to enter Bangladesh by crossing the river Naff in Teknaf.
The BGB and coast guard men sent them back despite repeated pressure from some foreign countries and international agencies to accept them as refugees.
Hasina said her government was providing the Rohingyas with food, medicine and even financial assistance before repatriating them.
Additionally, in an interview with a foreign television channel last month, she said Bangladesh was already an overpopulated country so it could not take in any more Rohingyas.
This time, too, she explained to the British secretary of state the context of Bangladesh and why her government had to deny entry to Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar in June.
The Rohingyas are a centuries-old minority Muslim population of Myanmar. But they have been "stateless" since Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Act undid their citizenship status in 1948.
Last month, Amnesty International also called on Myanmar's parliament to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to ensure that Rohingyas were no longer stateless.
"Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless. For too long Myanmar's human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher.
Bangladesh first allowed Rohingyas in as refugees in 1978. Some 2,50,877 Rohingyas took shelter at the time as registered refugees in dozens of camps across Cox's Bazar. After this influx, Bangladesh could send back 2,36,599 refugees till 2005, officials statistics show.
At present, there are around 30,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Teknaf in Cox's Bazar. But roughly about half a million of them unofficially live in Cox's Bazar and other areas of the Chittagong region.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Ask Myanmar to settle it
PM tells UK, other countries not to put pressure on Bangladesh over Rohingya issue
Star Report
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged countries, including the United Kingdom, which are concerned about the Rohingya issue, to talk to the Myanmar government instead of putting pressure on Bangladesh.
Hasina made the call at a meeting with British Secretary of State for International Development Affairs Andrew Mitchell at her hotel suite in London on Sunday evening, reports BSS.
After the meet, PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters.
Hasina told Mitchell that Bangladesh, despite being an overpopulated country, was already hosting over 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Cox's Bazar.
In June, as sectarian violence broke out in Myanmar, hundreds of Rohingyas tried to enter Bangladesh by crossing the river Naff in Teknaf.
The BGB and coast guard men sent them back despite repeated pressure from some foreign countries and international agencies to accept them as refugees.
Hasina said her government was providing the Rohingyas with food, medicine and even financial assistance before repatriating them.
Additionally, in an interview with a foreign television channel last month, she said Bangladesh was already an overpopulated country so it could not take in any more Rohingyas.
This time, too, she explained to the British secretary of state the context of Bangladesh and why her government had to deny entry to Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar in June.
The Rohingyas are a centuries-old minority Muslim population of Myanmar. But they have been "stateless" since Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Act undid their citizenship status in 1948.
Last month, Amnesty International also called on Myanmar's parliament to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to ensure that Rohingyas were no longer stateless.
"Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless. For too long Myanmar's human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher.
Bangladesh first allowed Rohingyas in as refugees in 1978. Some 2,50,877 Rohingyas took shelter at the time as registered refugees in dozens of camps across Cox's Bazar. After this influx, Bangladesh could send back 2,36,599 refugees till 2005, officials statistics show.
At present, there are around 30,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Teknaf in Cox's Bazar. But roughly about half a million of them unofficially live in Cox's Bazar and other areas of the Chittagong region.
