‘CPA can help solving Rohingya crisis’

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) executive committee chair and Jatiya Sangsad speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury today said Bangladesh should take the opportunity of parliamentary diplomacy through the CPA to find out a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis.

“Bangladesh is hosting the 63rd conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.  We can discuss the Rohingya issue formally and informally with the speakers, deputy speakers and parliamentarians of the member states of the association. We can seek their supports in favour of Bangladesh,” Shirin Sharmin said at a press conference following a meeting of the CPA executive committee at a hotel in Dhaka.

She also said the delegates of the conference will raise the Rohingya issue within their countries as well as in the global forums to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back their Rohingya citizens.

Shirin Sharmin said Bangladesh has been continuously exerting diplomatic efforts bilaterally and multilaterally for a peaceful end to the Rohingya crisis.

She said Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will brief the parliamentarians of the CPA member countries on the Rohingya issue at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre around 3:30 pm on November 5.

The speaker said around 500 delegates from 180 national and provincial parliaments from 52 countries will be informed about the Rohingya issue.

“Rohingya issue was not included in the agenda. It is now an international issue. We will be able to create a global opinion to put an end to the crisis through the conference,” she said.