Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday once again urged the international community to mount pressure on Myanmar to bring back the Rohinyas from Bangladesh.
“International pressure on the Myanmar government should continue so that Naypyidaw is forced to take back its displaced Rohingya nationals from Bangladesh,” she said, reports UNB.
The Prime Minister, who is now in London on her way back home from the USA, said this when Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, the Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and UK Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, paid a courtesy call on her at her hotel.
PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said Sheikh Hasina also sought support of the world community, including the UK, in shifting the forcibly displaced Myanmar people in Bangladesh to a new location.
“As per our makeshift arrangement, the hapless Rohingya people who fled to Bangladesh will be shifted to an island called “Bhasan Char” from Cox’s Bazar," she said.
The Prime Minister said there will be arrangements for education and sanitation apart from other facilities for the Rohingya people in the island.
She briefly described the present state of the displaced Myanmar citizens.
Hasina also highlighted her government’s steps to provide shelter, food and medical care for the distressed Rohingya people.
She said the civil administration, Army, Navy, Air Force, BGB, police and her party volunteers are working hard to mitigate the sufferings of these people.
The Prime Minister said they feel the sorrow and pain of the Rohingya people as they had to lead a refugee life after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
She also recalled that 10 million people from Bangladesh were forced to take shelter in India during the Liberation War after the Pakistani occupation forces launched massacre in Bangladesh.
Hasina said her government brought back 62,000 Bangladeshi refugees from India after signing the landmark peace treaty in 1996.
She conveyed her regards to the British prime minister through Lord Ahmad.
The UK state minister highly appreciated Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for saving the lives of tens of thousands of Rohingya people by giving shelter to them.
Lord Ahmad termed the influx of Rohingya people into Bangladesh a humanitarian crisis, saying the UK government has pledged to provide 30 million pounds for their assistance. “We’re keen to continue support for the Rohingya people,” he said.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Nazmul Qaunine was present on the occasion.
