Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said the government of Bangladesh is in no hurry to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
“We are observing the situation of Afghanistan and gathering facts and documents,” the minister said in reply to a question about the stance of the government on the Afghan issue. Momen was talking to a group of reporters at his office on Wednesday.
Responding to a question, he said that authorities concerned have beefed up security measures in Rohingya camps after following the killing of Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah.
“This is very shocking. We do not want such death of a single Rohingya. We will bring the culprits to the book so that in future others will not dare to commit such crime,” he added.
“Mohib Ullah was an educated man and he was a strong advocate for repatriation of the Rohingya people to their homeland in Myanmar. Maybe those who opposed his objective were involved in this incident,” he opined.
While talking about Rohingya’s attempt to flee the camps, Momen said that Rohingya refugees, staying in Bhasanchar and Cox’s Bazar, have the internet facility and they can maintain communication with their friends, families and others abroad through the internet.
For this reason, the minister said, the refugees were easily trapped by the human trafficker to flee the camps.
“Naturally they want to flee the camps because this is not their homeland. Why should we care if they want to leave Bangladesh for another country? We have not invited them to our country,” he said.
Government has information on illegal arms smuggling through the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, the foreign minister said adding that criminal activities on the border will be root out by any means.
“We will take a tough stance to prevent the crimes on the border. Criminal activities -like human trafficking, drug smuggling- are also on the rise there. Previously we did not use weapons on the border but now we will take a tougher position,” the minister said.