Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said that the United Nations' statement on Bhasan Char Rohingya relocation was undesirable as they were provided with the details of the island.
"They were requested to be involved in the relocation process but they did not respond," the minister told the newsmen at his office on Monday.
Momen said the UN’s main priority should be to put pressure on Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas, who fled the Rakhine state at the face of brutal torture by the country's security forces.
The foreign minister said the repatriation of Rohingyas is also the main priority of Bangladesh government and it will begin talks with Myanmar soon after the installation of the new government there.
He also mentioned that the Rohingyas are being moved to the island only on a temporary basis.
"We have a plan to shift one hundred thousand Rohingya to Bhasan Char and we will take only those who intend to go there voluntarily," the minister said.
In the first phase, a total of 1,642 Rohingya were sent to Bhasan Char island on Friday in a bid to decongest the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps.
