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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh is not in a position to take any more people from Myanmar, emphasizing the repatriation of Rohingyas who took temporary shelter in the country.
In an interview with the Bangla service of Voice of America (VoA) aired on Tuesday, she said Rohingyas should go back to their own country, reports UNB.
“It is not possible for us to take any more people,” said Sheikh Hasina describing the burden amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and subsequent sanctions due to which the whole world is suffering.
Hasina described how the prolonged stay of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh destroyed forests in Cox’s Bazar area, caused suffering to the locals and how many Rohingyas got involved in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and human trafficking apart from getting involved in conflicts inside the camps.
“They (Rohingyas) need to go back to their own country,” she said referring to Bangladesh’s repeated calls to the international community for their safe return. “Everyone needs to understand (the situation).”
She described how in 1971, during the Liberation War, people from Bangladesh took shelter in India amid the Pakistani military’s brutal crackdown.
“We saw sufferings (in 1971) with our own eyes,” PM Hasina said, sharing her conversation with her sister Sheikh Rehana before allowing the Rohingyas temporary shelter in Bangladesh amid brutality against them in Myanmar.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char and not a single person was repatriated to Myanmar over the last five years.
The country has recently sought support and necessary steps from the international community to stop the violence in Myanmar so that it cannot create instability in the region and thus avoid the repatriation of Rohingyas.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
