The Myanmar government has said that it has four conditions before it proceeds with the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees who fled across the border to Bangladesh to escape persecution.
The matter of the refugees was discussed during an international conference on India-Myanmar relations in Yangon on Friday, says Kolkata-based newspaper Anandabazar, reports bdnews.
The Indian publication described the conditions set forward by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary U Kyaw Zeya as ‘strict’.
Those Rohingyas who can provide documented proof of long-term residence in Myanmar, want to return to Rakhine of their own will, can prove that they have relatives on the Myanmar side of the border and (in the case of children) can provide evidence their parents are permanent residents of Myanmar will be allowed to return, Anandabazar said.
India, which shares borders with the two neighbouring countries, has said Myanmar will have to take back its nationals currently taking refuge in Bangladesh. Similar calls have come from many other countries.
Many foreign diplomats who have visited the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps said that it would be difficult for most of the approximately 1 million Rohingya refugees to meet the conditions set by Myanmar.
They said many fled their homes out of fear and are unlikely to have proof of residence in the country.
The question was also raised at the conference arranged by the Kolkata Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, the Indian Embassy in Yangon and prominent Myanmar citizens in Yangon.
